The day before, a number of media spread the information that Ukraine, due to the position of its partners, allegedly agreed to the format of the so-called hybrid tribunal instead of the one based on the resolution of the UN General Assembly.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President (OP) Andrii Smirnov said that the international tribunal model based on the adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution and the agreement between Ukraine and the UN remains legitimate and authoritative for Ukraine.
"Ukraine advocates this version and will continue to advocate in the framework of the Coordination Group — a coalition of countries that discuss various legal issues, in particular regarding the tribunalʼs work model," he wrote.
The international conference on the creation of a special international tribunal to punish the crime of aggression against Ukraine was held on August 21. And there, according to Smirnov, various formats of the tribunal were discussed, but "Ukraine will not agree to any hybrid format of the tribunal, where its creation is considered as part of the Ukrainian judicial system."
The next meetings of the Core Group will be held in September.
- Ukraine has been working for more than a year and a half to create a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression and bring Vladimir Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials to justice there. In order to overcome Putinʼs presidential immunity, as well as for the tribunal to be legitimate, it must be supported by the worldʼs leading democracies, primarily the United States — and they are not against it, but not in the format that Ukraine needs.
- Meanwhile, Ukraine, the European Union, the International Criminal Court, and the government of the Netherlands launched a dialogue group to support investigations of international crimes in Ukraine, and the United States began cooperation with the joint investigative team (JIT) investigating Russiaʼs serious international crimes in Ukraine.