Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has told the annual conference of the International Bar Association (IBA) that “the world order as we know it would be destroyed” if his country lost its war with Russia.

Andriy Kostin (pictured) told the IBA’s executive director Mark Ellis that his office had been working relentlessly to bring those responsible for crimes of aggression and genocide to account.

At the session in Paris, he set out Ukraine’s case for the need for the establishment of a special tribunal akin to the Nuremberg trials, which brought Nazi war criminals to account after World War II.

International dimension

Ukraine has been garnering international support for such a tribunal, which would operate outside the remit of the International Criminal Court.

Kostin said that his office and partners across the world had been gathering evidence of alleged war crimes to ensure that they had a strong case to bring forward prosecutions of the perpetrators.

“I believe that a special tribunal should be created and should be of international dimension. The crime of aggression is an international crime, and so to punish those who started it, the response should be international,” he told the conference.

“With such a tribunal, Ukrainian victims will not only feel vindicated, but it will also create a deterrent effect for other potential aggressors,” Kostin stated, adding that the UN Security Council would not serve as a sufficient instrument due to veto rules.

Impartial

The plan for a special tribunal has received the backing of the European Parliament, and several other nations, although some commentators fear it could undermine the work of the International Criminal Court.

Kostin insisted that the judicial process must be fair and impartial throughout, adding that his office had been training prosecutors, judges and defence attorneys from the legal-aid system to be impartial for the sake of justice.

Questioned about domestic issues, the Prosecutor General also said that he had implemented a three-point plan to “clean up” domestic problems – including corruption at all levels, the influence of oligarchs and organised crime.