X-ray for an international court that would try Vladimir Putin

The Russian leader who governs the most extended State in the world since 2000, susceptible to being tried for the invasion of Ukrainemeets the conditions to be brought before a international jurisdiction, whose accused profile is evidence. What would be the crimes intended to incriminate him, the conditions to meet to force him to appear before a competent body, and sentence him? Journalistic and historical exploration of a “model to assemble”.

The scale of the evidence being collected by the International Criminal Court (ICC), UN General Assembly -the United Nations parliament, with its 193 member states-, and the Human Rights Councilwhose 47 countries are being renewed by the secret vote of the aforementioned parliament, take into consideration the United Nations Charter of 1945, essential for the States that accede to the UN, and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, in favor of wounded, prisoners, and civilian populations in armed conflicts. (1)

Crimes

From the Nuremberg Trial, which on October 1, 1946, sanctioned the Nazi leaders who lost World War II, to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court (ICC) on July 17, 1998, jurisprudence from around the world has decanted 4 imprescriptible crimestoday attributable to the perpetrators of crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine: «aggression», «war», «lese humanity» y “genocide”; but “the first drags the rest. (2)

By the way, the “war crimes” they cover “intentional attacks” targeting civilians “not taking part in hostilities”, and public “buildings” or “civilian objects” not being “military targets”. In turn, bombardments of “cities” that are not militarily defended, and “deaths, summary executions, illegal detentions, torture, deportations, transfer of populations, rape and looting.” The “Crimes against humanity” They also include many of these atrocities, constituting a “massive and systematic attack against civilians.”

Putin faces war crimes charges

However, of the 4 crimes identified in Russia’s war against Ukraine, there is unanimity in rule out “genocide”, because its definition requires proof of “the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group,” such as the one operated by Adolf Hitler against the Jews. It is clear that the Russian attack on Ukraine is massive and indiscriminate, but the demographics of the population, consisting of Ukrainians, Russians, Romanians, Moldovans, Belarusians, Tatars, Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Gypsies, Jews and “transients” », prevents sifting it into a specific objective of «genocide» (3)

Dismissing it, and knowing that the ICC has initiated 22 cases with 2 convictions, where only “African rebels are persecuted”, (4) up to now invoking war crimes or crimes against humanity, it remains to be seen if in this case, the fourth crime could be alleged, that of “assault”. It would fit better than the 3 offenses already listed, since it is defined as “the planning, preparation, launching or execution by a person effectively capable of controlling or directing the political or military action of a State”, that is, Putin against Ukraine.

The crime of aggression

Indeed, Putin uses “armed force against” the “sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence” of Ukraine, incompatible with the UN Charter. All this with or without a declaration of war, violating the Resolution of the General Assembly of December 14, 1974, which prohibits the invasion, attack, occupation or annexation “of all or part” of any country, its bombardment, blockade of ports, and dispatch of bands, “armed mercenaries” or “irregular troops », like the legalized paramilitaries of the group «Wagner», of Evgeny Prigojine.

However, the ICC is in the process of approving an amendment conceived in 2010, on the crime of “assault”, currently supported by 45 States out of the 123 that signed the Rome Statute. For the amendment to enter into force, it needs to have been adopted by consensus, or by a majority of two-thirds of the States parties, ratified by seven-eighths of those 123 countries, that is, 108. It must neutralize the reluctance of France and England, the oppositions for reasons other than the United States and Russia, and the disinterest of China. (5)

In this context, on January 19, 2023, the European Parliament ordered “the creation of a special international court for Ukraine”, independent, that represses the crime of aggression. The European Commission anticipated it on November 30, 2022. The project would be summarized “in a multilateral treaty, of hybrid jurisdiction… integrating international judges… in close cooperation with the international community, preferably through the intermediation of the UN.” The idea was immediately embraced by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. (6)

Speeches and acts of Vladimir Putin

The truth of the evidence to accuse the perpetrator of a crime, in any criminal procedure, is usually reflected in his statements. Those of the leader of Moscow are abundant because everything has been said, written and published in Russian media under their controlin particular his speeches broadcast by television networks, texts that can be consulted on the Kremlin website, highlighting 2 of them when launching hostilities, on February 21 and 24, 2022. (7)

These texts develop the narrative that justifies the misappropriation of 43,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory since 2014, violating the borders recognized by the UN, annexing the Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Lougansk, and two neighboring regions, Gerson and Zaporizhia, together with Crimea, illegally seized in 2014, in total about 20% of the Ukrainian geography , according to President Volodymyr Zelensky (8). These territories are still in dispute, witnessing warfare that is broadcast live on television.

It should be remembered that Putin is the President of Russia and its Supreme Commander, being head of the armed forces, giving orders to defense ministers, heads of staff and generals. He announced the mobilizations of hundreds of thousands of young people. He issued orders to increase the war power of the country and thus face combat, visiting troops and barracks, simultaneously assuming the definition of the military doctrine of the State and its internal policy.

Moscow goes on to defend itself against Ukraine’s plan to retake Russian-occupied areas

In turn, Putin manages Russia’s international relations and is associated with the recruitment of Chechen soldiers, “volunteers” from the Middle East, and the 30,000 to 50,000 troops of the Wagner “militia” mentioned above. Participates in conclaves of the country’s military headquarters, appointing and removing officials, blockading ports, encircling or threatening nuclear power plants, bombing civilian infrastructure, and interviewing civilians related to the conflict, all involved in the “special military operation” to “denazify” Ukraine.

In his homily on September 25, 2022, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and “all the Russias” urged sacrifice as a weapon of war. He extolled Putin, granting him a kind of divinity by proclaiming: “Whoever dies in the line of his military duty, undoubtedly commits an act that amounts to a sacrifice. He sacrifices himself for the others. We believe that this sacrifice washes away all the sins committed.”

From Geneva, Juan Gasparini

1. Resolution 3314 of the General Assembly of December 14, 1974, which defines the crime of aggression, and of March 2 and 24, 2022, and of November 14, 2022, entitled “Aggression against Ukraine”, “humanitarian consequences” and “Remedy Appeal”; and that of February 23, 2023, “for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” The Resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva related to Russia and/or Ukraine in the present conflict, of May 12 and October 8, 2022, and of April 6, 2023, on the mandate to a group of independent experts destined to investigate in Ukraine, and the nomination of a Special Rapporteur to monitor human rights in Russia.
2. Robert Badinter, former French Minister of Justice, who abolished the death penalty in 1981, interviews the weekly «L’Express», Paris, April 20-26, 2023. And his book, «Vladimir Putin L’Accusation», co-authored with Bruno Cotte and Alain Pellet, Éditions Fayard, France, March 2023.
3. Rome Statute of the ICC (1998), and Kampala Amendment (2010).
4. “Le Temps”, Geneva, April 17, 2023
5. «Le Monde», Paris, April 6, 2023. There are 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that by the end of 2022 had signed the Kampala amendment: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana , Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
6. Communication of the European Commission of November 30, 2022. «Le Monde», Paris, March 4, 2022, article signed by the former English Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the British jurist Philippe Sands. Volodymyr Zelensky, at www.president.gov.ua/en, March 3, 2023.
7. Vladimir Putin’s speeches of February 21, 2022 (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/presodent/news/67828), originals in English), and February 24, 2022 (http://en.kremlin .ru/events/president/news/67843), original version in English but translated into French on the UN Security Council website. Vladimir Putin’s statement of September 21, 2022, on the Kremlin website and his speech to the UN Security Council on March 3, 2022, reproduced in turn by the Kremlin website, informing that the operation in Ukraine it was going “according to plan.” Reuters agency cable, “Putin says Russia Wants End to War in Ukraine”, December 22, 2022.
8. Speech by President Volodymyr Zelensky before the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, June 2, 2022.
9. Robert Bidenter, Bruno Cotte y Alain Pellet, “Vladimir Putin L’Accusation”, Éditions Fayard, Francia, March 2023, previously quoted.