After a year of conflict in Ukraine, all eyes are on the future and what form justice may take once the conflict is over. On November 29, 2022, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union, promised that “Russia will pay for these crimes”. It also evoked the creation of a special tribunal to try war crimes committed during the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
This work of collecting information and evidence of crimes by investigators from NGOs specialized in this field began on the first day of the conflict. During a round table organized by Amnesty International, Thursday, February 23, the debate addressed the questions that a trial of such magnitude would raise.
“A heroic, historic challenge”
“To date, which court is able to offer a fair trial? », asks Marie Struthers, Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International. Over 70,000 war crimes have already been reported to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine since the start of the conflict. There is none « jnever so many in a single year,” she recalled.
Among these abuses, the forced displacements from Ukraine to Russia, in particular of thousands of children (at least 200,000). Then come the attacks on civilian infrastructure, then the bombing of civilians, perpetrated knowingly. “This trial is a challenge for Ukraine, as it would be for all other countries,” said Marie Struthers again.
On the dock
“Will Putin ever be tried? » For that, it would have to be on the territory of one of the signatory countries of the Treaty of Rome. If he were tried, because of the immunity enjoyed by heads of state, the charges would relate to the political decision to invade Ukraine.
For the crimes committed, generals could appear in the dock, such as Azatbek Omurbekov, suspected of having given the order for the Boutcha massacre. And the war crimes committed by the Ukrainians? They will also be judged, believes Marie Struthers.
Act, but when?
“A quick response is desirable so that the evidence does not disappear”, still judges Marie Struthers. But international justice often acts slowly. And the question of the treatment accorded to other conflicts which do not benefit from the creation of a special tribunal adds to the sensitivity of the subject. The risk, by quickly setting up such a system for Ukraine, would be to send a variable geometry message of indignation, explains journalist and political commentator Pierre Haski.
As for Ukraine, the war crimes committed in Crimea, but also in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, territories of Georgia annexed by Russia in 2005, will have to be taken into account. They also deserve “a duty of memory”.