Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday (March 4th) accused Russian soldiers of “raping women in occupied Ukrainian cities”, calling for the creation of a special criminal court to try the “crime of aggression” committed by Vladimir Putin.
Read also Natalia Gevorgyan: “Vladimir Putin is committing a crime against Ukraine, but also against Russia”
Dmitry Kuleba spoke from Ukraine as part of an online meeting hosted by Chatham House, a London-based institute that monitors international relations, in the presence of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. “When bombs fall on your cities, when soldiers rape women in occupied cities, and unfortunately we have many cases of Russian soldiers raping women in Ukrainian cities, it is obviously difficult to talk about the effectiveness of international law,” he said. “But this is our only tool to ensure that, in the end, all those who made this war possible will be brought to justice and that the Russian Federation, as the country that committed the act of aggression, will also be held accountable,” he added. .
Special special jurisdiction
Eight days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Dmitry Kuleba said he supported the creation of a special criminal tribunal to try Russia’s “crime of aggression” in Ukraine, an initiative by dozens of international law and political and literary figures such as former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. or the American writer Paul Auster. “We lack a decisive weapon in the legal fight against Putin,” said Gordon Brown, who signed a call for a special jurisdiction to “fill the gap” left by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The International Criminal Court on Monday announced the launch of an investigation into the situation in Ukraine, citing possible “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”. But it cannot judge a “crime of aggression” – an attack from one country against another planned by a political or military leader – if that country has not ratified the Rome Statute, as Russia and Ukraine have. But “most people will agree that this act of aggression (from Russia to Ukraine) must be investigated, persecuted and punished,” said Gordon Brown.