Ukraine’s Minister of Justice: At least 1-2 years until sentences on Russian war crimes

Olena Roshchina – Saturday, 30 April 2022, 07:46

Denys Maliuska, Minister of Justice of Ukraine, said that Russian citizens who committed war crimes in Ukraine will not be saved by diplomatic immunity, but it will be difficult to detain them.

Source: Denys Maliuska on air during the 24/7 national newscast; Radio Svoboda

Details: The Minister of Justice is convinced that Ukraine has sufficient evidence of war crimes, the crime of aggression, and "in some cases we can even officially establish the crime of genocide" committed by Russian troops.

The Russian military and leadership can be sentenced both by Ukrainian national courts and international justice organisations, such as the International Criminal Court, a tribunal recently established by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as well as courts in other countries.

Maliuska pointed out the main problem in seeking justice for the war crimes committed in Ukraine: it is necessary to physically detain the perpetrators.

According to Maliuska: "If the Ukrainian court passes a verdict, Interpol will be one of the tools to find such people.

If the verdicts are passed by the ICC, it gets even more interesting, because most countries in the world support its jurisdiction. And most countries in the world will ignore even diplomatic immunity, such as Vladimir Putin or his entourage might have, if they enter the territory of a country that recognises the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Of course, it will take at least 1.5-2 years for these mechanisms to take full effect and for the first sentences to materialise. Because, of course, international jurisdictions have always been slow, and these are actually reasonably fast terms for international courts, which would usually take 6-8 years and more."

Details: Maliuska said that the second part of bringing Russia to justice will involve seeking Russian compensation for the damage caused by its aggression in Ukraine.

"There are a lot of courts that are ready to rule against Russia [with regards to economic compensation]: the European Court of Human Rights, arbitration courts and a separate commission, which we will create under a new international agreement that will give us access to the territory of the Russian Federation," he said.

"But the situation is similar to the one in criminal courts. In a criminal court you need to detain someone to send them to prison, while in a civilian court you need to first find Russian money that can be confiscated," the Minister added.

Maliuska pointed out that most of these funds are currently protected by Russia’s sovereign immunity. At the same time, Kyiv "can envision mechanisms" for accessing this money.

"We are likewise not talking about months, but about processes that last a year or two, and sometimes longer. But the path is clear and the result will be achieved," the Minister of Justice said.

Earlier: On 20 April the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine’s Parliament] registered a government bill that creates a legal mechanism for cooperation with the International Criminal Court. This will ensure the prosecution of the perpetrators of war crimes.

Ukraine and some Western officials are demanding that Russia be held accountable for war crimes, in particular over the events in Kyiv Region.

The Kremlin denies any allegations of Russian troops killing civilians in Ukraine, despite satellite images confirming this fact.