Why special tribunal is needed for Russian war criminals

Yes, we need a special tribunal, not any 'hybrid' justice mechanisms. Why is this so important?

The International Criminal Court has already issued an arrest warrant for the leader of the Russian state. And this is important, but we need to understand that this court can only act within the framework of its statutory documents and in relation to specific people suspected of specific war crimes. For example, the kidnapping of Ukrainian children was the first crime for which a warrant was issued against the Russian leadership only because the leadership confessed to criminal acts on camera and confirmed this by presidential decrees.

But Russia's invasion is not just something that involved some war crimes. It was a great crime from the very beginning. And the crimes did not begin on February 24, 2022, but much earlier. When the Russian leadership decided to launch an aggressive war against a neighboring state.

“Russia's invasion is not just something that involved some war crimes. It was a great crime from the very beginning. And the crimes did not begin on February 24, 2022, but much earlier. When the Russian leadership decided to launch an aggressive war against a neighboring state.”

Everything was criminal. The 'grounds' for starting the war, its undeclared status, the methods of its conduct, the seizure of territories, and much more.

All of this is being carried out by criminal organizations - the Russian Guard, the Russian Army and the FSB (and many others). Criminal propagandists sanctify everything through the media. And all of this is based on a criminal ideology - 'Ruscism', hateful, xenophobic, aggressive imperialism.

All of them must be condemned. Not just one war criminal, or even a few dozen of his accomplices. In the end, Russia itself must be condemned for having created all these horrors.

Therefore, all of this is much broader than just individual war crimes. This is all one big crime against humanity, and it must be clearly defined and condemned.

Source

About the author. Petro Oleshchuk, political scientist. 

The editors don't always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.