The Parliament of Estonia said in a statement on June 16 that it supports the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute officials in Russia who planned and committed the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
The statement, which was voted on by 85 members of parliament, calls on establishing for a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression under the auspices of the United Nations.
"The crime of aggression is the supreme international crime which is the root cause of all other crimes perpetrated in Ukraine," the press release says.
The International Criminal Court has the ability to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, but not crimes of aggression —crimes committed by the highest political and military leadership of a country —for countries that are not state parties to the ICC, which Russia not.
The parliament likens the establishment of such a a tribunal to that of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg, which tried the crimes of the European Axis Powers after World War II.
"Without a trial of the perpetrators of the crime aggression it will not be possible to achieve a just and lasting peace both in Ukraine and in the whole Europe,” the statement says.
According to the press release, the establishment of the tribunal is one of the top foreign policy goals of Estonia. The parliament called on Estonia's allies to actively support the establishment of a special international tribunal under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly.
As of May 5, thirty countries supported the establishment of a special tribunal for Russian crimes of aggression.
Alexander Khrebet
(Updated: )
