Keir Starmer calls for the creation of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine

Today Labour has called for the creation of a tribunal to prosecute the Russian president Vladimir Putin and his associates for the crime of aggression.

The new international tribunal would be based on the tribunal set up to prosecute Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg.

It follows calls for the special tribunal by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who in an event with former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said an ‘international tribunal’ would ‘fill a gap.’

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already started an investigation into events in Ukraine, which is investigating the Putin regime for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. However the ICC cannot investigate the crime of aggression because Russia has not ratified the statute of the court and would veto any attempt by the Security Council to submit a referral.

Keir Starmer MP, leader of the Labour Party, said:

“Vladimir Putin and his criminal cronies must be held to account for their illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“The UK government must do all it can to ensure the creation of a special tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression.

“The Ukrainian people deserve justice as well as our continued military, economic, diplomatic, and humanitarian assistance.”