A few days ago, German Justice Minister Marko Buschmann arrived in Kyiv and signed a bilateral agreement with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Malyuska on cooperation in establishing a special tribunal to investigate war crimes committed by Russia and Ukraine and to compensate for the damage caused by Russian aggression. Germany is the first of 30 countries to respond to the project of an international tribunal presented by Ukraine and to start the process, Zakarpattya24 reports .
“Those responsible for these crimes must be held accountable. There should be no safe havens for them anywhere: this is the common conviction of the Ukrainian government and the German federal government.”
– said Minister Buschmann.
One of the diplomats who prepared the ground for the launch of an international tribunal in Germany is Roland Zeber, a representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.
On September 29, the official met with Bundestag members Markus Faber and Peter Heidt in Berlin. According to Zeber, it was Haidt who was one of the generators of ideas and who made a lot of efforts to make this military tribunal work. At that time, representatives of the Bundestag Human Rights Committee, together with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the German Ministry of Justice, announced a mechanism for establishing this tribunal.
A month after this visit, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann arrived in Ukraine and signed this agreement, according to which Berlin pledges to help Ukraine prosecute war criminals and achieve justice.
“The Ukrainian and German Ministries of Justice have signed a bilateral agreement on international legal cooperation to develop joint solutions for the establishment of this tribunal […] All the conditions for funding and everything necessary for this mechanism to work are being created. War criminals and Russia in general must pay for what they have done. We, as Ukraine, claim compensation for the damage that the Russian Federation has caused to Ukraine,” the ombudsman’s representative said.
In addition to the tribunal, the new program of Ukrainian-German cooperation includes several other important items, including: penitentiary and probation; enforcement of court decisions; forensic expertise and court-appointed experts; anti-corruption; bankruptcy; and exchange of experience on the Hague Conventions.
In addition, Germany supports Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. According to Roland Zeber, Berlin is also planning new arms supplies for the Ukrainian military.
Such concrete actions are unlike the Germans, who are usually quite reserved. An important signal is the recent visit to Kyiv by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who did announce new arms supplies.
In general, the program of cooperation between Ukraine and Germany is scheduled until the end of 2024. It is expected that by this time the main war criminal of the modern world, Vladimir Putin, will be brought before a military tribunal.
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