Zelensky urges Europe to support war tribunal for Russian leaders
STRASBOURG: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged Europe to help quickly set up a tribunal to try Russian leaders for “crime of aggression”, as he accepted the price of EU rights.
“I call on all of you, your parties and your states to effectively support this work. The court needs to start working,” Zelensky told the European Parliament in a speech via video link.
“We have to make it a reality as soon as possible.”
Zelensky made the call as he received the European Union’s annual Sakharov Prize on behalf of the “brave people of Ukraine”.
The EU executive shares Ukraine’s hopes for a tribunal to prosecute top Moscow officials and urges bloc member states to back it.
Many EU countries, including the Baltic States, Poland and the Netherlands, have already backed the proposal.
Ukraine is pushing for a special court to hold the Kremlin responsible for the “crime of aggression” because it falls outside the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
“The towns and villages destroyed by Russia, the lives destroyed should be reflected in the sentences not only for those who directly committed all this, but also for those who organized and started this aggression,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader insisted his country would eventually prevail against invading forces from Moscow and deal a crushing blow to the ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We will win so that there are no more attempts to apply, again, the genocidal policy against our people, both in Ukraine and throughout Europe,” Zelensky said.
“We must and will give a new effective security architecture for global freedom and international law and order.”-AFP