Text of agreement to launch special tribunal on Russia's crime of aggression reportedly finalised

A decision by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on a partial enlarged agreement to launch the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine has not yet been taken, but the text of the agreement has been prepared.

Source: Mykola Tochytskyi, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, in a comment to Ukrinform, a Ukrainian news outlet

Quote: "As of today, the Committee of Ministers has yet to approve the partial extended agreement and formally launch the tribunal. Work on the agreement text itself, however, has already been completed."

Details: Tochytskyi reported that a number of member states still have questions regarding the tribunal's budget, premises and other costs.

Quote: "The Committee of Ministers has decided to establish an advance team to assist the tribunal's host country [the Netherlands – ed.] in addressing these matters. Last week, the Committee of Ministers decided that the €10 million allocated by the European Commission would be used to fund the work of this advance team."

Details: The advance team will include experts from member states and will begin work within the Council of Europe's justice department.

Quote: "They will prepare a kind of roadmap detailing who contributes what, how and in what way. I believe that in the near future, evidently before the ministerial meeting in Chișinău, we will have clarity on the approval of the tribunal agreement and which states are ready to participate in its establishment."

Details: Tochytskyi added that estimates vary on how many of the Council of Europe's 46 member states will be needed to launch the tribunal, but noted that the partial agreement enables other countries to join as well.

Quote: "I am talking about Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We hope that once the decision on the agreement and the tribunal is taken, they will join us."

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