The European Union is exploring ways to create a special prosecution office to help probe Russian war crimes in Ukraine while separate talks on a special international tribunal to punish crimes of aggression continue to be mired in legal wrangling.
(Bloomberg) — The European Union is exploring ways to create a special prosecution office to help probe Russian war crimes in Ukraine while separate talks on a special international tribunal to punish crimes of aggression continue to be mired in legal wrangling.
Moves to set up the office, which would initially be tasked with helping Ukraine collect evidence about Russian violence, are progressing and gained broad support from EU nations this week, according to people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Creating this new body would allow the EU to make headway in one area while the 27-nation bloc and its allies continue to explore different options to hold Russia accountable for the invasion of Ukraine, the people said. While its exact mandate is still being explored, the office would be set up in the EU and consist of Ukrainian and international prosecutors, one of the people said.
Politicians and legal experts haven’t yet been able to agree on the idea of a special international court to investigate crimes of “aggression” touted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last year. Talks remain bogged down in the legal and political complexities entailed in setting up such a new international institution, the people said. Crimes of aggression are those by top politicians or military leadership — so a breakthrough could eventually allow for the prosecution of the top Russian leaders who gave the orders and would otherwise enjoy immunity.
Read More: EU Explores New Steps to Probe Russian Crimes, Use Frozen Assets
The commission is in discussions with Eurojust, the EU’s agency for judicial co-operation in criminal matters, to see how an international prosecution office — which follows requests from Ukraine — could be set up and how its mandate would advance work already underway by a joint investigations team that exists since last year to gather evidence about crimes in Ukraine.
The commission, the EU’s executive, and Eurojust are now seeing how a new prosecution office could be linked to this team — which consists of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials from six EU nations, Ukraine, Eurojust and the International Criminal Court — to investigate and gather evidence about crimes committed in Ukraine, the people said.
Legally Complex
The EU is also weighing setting up a coordination center at Eurojust, based in the Netherlands, to facilitate coordination between the different prosecutors and teams involved and allow evidence to be stored there so that it can be used in future trials before national tribunals or the possible new court, the people said.
Meanwhile, the EU Council’s legal service reminded member nations this week that the International Criminal Court, which is based in the Netherlands, doesn’t have the powers to investigate crimes of aggression, stressing the need for a new mechanism to be set up.
While the idea of a special or a hybrid tribunal would be legally complex, the legal experts said it could be feasible with the sufficient political will, according to the people familiar with the talks.
Still, EU nations were not able to agree on whether such a court would be a viable option, and if so, what form it should take, the people said. Member states this week agreed that talks should continue with the goal to find an EU position on which would be the preferable option, that would also be able to gain the broadest international support, people said.
EU justice ministers are discussing some of the plans today in Stockholm. “Due to the situation in Ukraine, the most important part of the meeting will be the discussion about the fight against impunity,” EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told reporters in the Swedish capital.
His spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to a separate request for comment on the prosecution office.
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