The Invasion of Ukraine and the Crime of International Aggression
On the Need to Create an Ad Hoc International Tribunal
Abstract
Except for the illegal invasion perpetrated by Saddam Hussein against Kuwait, the world had not witnessed such pristine and overt international aggression as that perpetrated by the political and military leaders of the Russian Federation against the Republic of Ukraine. This article analyzes the crime of international aggression or crime against peace, both in its regulation by the Statute of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg (and its counterpart in Tokyo) and in the Statute of the International Criminal Court in accordance with the wording given by the Kampala Conference of 2010. The first case fits the so-called Theory of Collective Responsibility designed by Murray Bernays, founded on two speeds: (i) the determination of a conspiracy by the political and military leaders to launch a war of conquest over another State or States, as well as the outlawing of those organizations or institutions created by the leaders to execute the criminal plan; and (ii) the determination of the criminal responsibility of all those individuals who, knowingly and freely, have decided to join such illegal organizations or institutions and have interacted with the other members in the pursuit of the criminal result. In the second case (Statute of the International Criminal Court), the crime has been classified as its particular criminal type, concerning which there is no possibility of attributing liability to third parties.
Likewise, the need to establish an ad hoc or hybrid international criminal tribunal through a bilateral treaty between Ukraine and the UN General Assembly is advocated. The mission of such a tribunal should be to prosecute and punish all those responsible for the crime of international aggression perpetrated against the Ukrainian people. Such a tribunal should have jurisdiction only over the crime of international aggression, with the possibility of conducting trials in absentia.
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