\n The EU said Wednesday it had launched proceedings to become a \"founding member\" of a special Ukraine tribunal to try top Russian officials over Moscow's war against its neighbour.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an accord with the Council of Europe last year to create a legal body to prosecute the \"crime of aggression\" in the invasion Russia launched in 2022.\n<\/p>\n
\n Becoming a founding member would allow the European Union to play a central role in its operations, including the selection of judges and prosecutors.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Justice for the victims of aggression is the best route to lasting peace,\" said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The pursuit of justice is equally a deterrent for would-be aggressors,\" she added.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 46-member Council of Europe -- a France-based rights body -- is distinct from the EU.\n<\/p>\n
\n Members include the EU's 27 countries but also key European states from outside the bloc such as Turkey, Britain and Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia was expelled in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine and has already said it will disregard the special tribunal's rulings.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kyiv and its supporters want to see justice served for Russia's war and European foreign ministers endorsed the creation of the judicial body in a meeting in May last year.\n<\/p>\n
\n Brussels has already helped draft the tribunal's founding legal texts and contributed 10 million euros to prepare its operational set-up.\n<\/p>\n
\n Its bid for founding member status needs to be approved by the EU's 27 nations, before submission to the Council of Europe.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This is a decisive step towards establishing the Special Tribunal and ensuring that those responsible for Russia's crime of aggression are held to account,\" said EU justice commissioner Michael McGrath.\n<\/p>\n
\n The tribunal, which was initially hoped could start work this year, could in theory try senior figures up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.\n<\/p>\n
\n The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has already issued arrest warrants for Putin over the abduction of Ukrainian children and four of his top commanders for targeting civilians.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the ICC does not have the jurisdiction to prosecute Russia for the more fundamental decision to launch the invasion -- otherwise known as the \"crime of aggression\".<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The EU said Wednesday it had launched proceedings to become a \"founding member\" of a special Ukraine tribunal to try top Russian officials over Moscow's war against its neighbour. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an accord with the Council of Europe last year to create a legal body to prosecute the \"crime of aggression\" in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-156963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n