Romania backs proposal for Special Tribunal for Ukraine

Romania will support the creation of a special court to deal with the "crime of aggression against Ukraine", the Romanian minister of foreign affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, said on October 14.

A Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression (STCoA) can, in principle, be done through an international criminal tribunal established by the United Nations General Assembly.

"We will continue to engage in the unprecedented collective effort to bring justice to the victims of the worst crimes committed in Ukraine. Those responsible must pay, and our collective efforts must be effective in this area because Ukraine wants justice which it deserves," the head of Romanian diplomacy said, Agerpres reported.

The case for a special tribunal was discussed as there is no international court with jurisdiction over the crime of aggression against Ukraine: Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus are not parties to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court (ICC) and gave it jurisdiction. However, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said last week that Kyiv authorities could send Russians to the Hague-based court if trials could not take place in Ukraine for legal reasons.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, refused to join the ICC when the court was set up in 2002 to try people for offences including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

"Legally, yes, it wouldn't represent an obstacle to our jurisdiction," Khan told a press conference at the headquarters of the EU's judicial agency, Eurojust.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)