“The countries that were categorically against the removal of immunity from the three main political and military leaders of the Russian Federation were afraid of creating a precedent against their leaders in the future. Deputy Head of the Office of the President (OP) Iryna Mudra told about this in an interview with “RBK-Ukraine”. According to Mudroi, during the raising of the issue regarding the removal of immunity from the top three political and military leaders of Russia”, — write on: ua.news
The countries that were categorically against the removal of immunity from the three main political and military leaders of the Russian Federation were afraid of creating a precedent against their leaders in the future.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President (OP) Iryna Mudra told about this in an interview with “RBK-Ukraine”.
According to Mudroi, when the issue of removing immunity from the top three political and military leaders of Russia was raised, there were countries that opposed it and those that insisted that no one should use immunity when it comes to the crime of aggression.
The countries that insisted on leaving the immunity justified their position by the fact that it meets the requirements of international law and there are allegedly no requirements for its violation.
“… they were more afraid of setting a precedent that could then be used against their leaders. We understand that there is no statute of limitations for the creation of a tribunal, and they were afraid that their leaders could also be prosecuted for some past events by the same tribunal that could be created by a coalition of other states,” explained the deputy head of the OP.
Back in September 2022, a working group was formed in Ukraine to study the issue of creating a special international tribunal regarding the crime of aggression against Ukraine. A few months later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of France announced the start of work on the creation of a special tribunal against Russian crimes. In particular, European and Ukrainian representatives were involved.
In mid-January 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the creation of an international tribunal for Russia and Belarus, and already in March, as the then head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, said, 30 countries supported the creation of the body.
As noted by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berse, significant progress is expected regarding the special tribunal for Russia already in April of this year. Currently, negotiations on its creation are ongoing.