Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for the creation of a Nuremberg-style war crimes tribunal for the “crime of aggression” against Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already started investigating events in Ukraine, probing Vladimir Putin’s regime for potential genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, the ICC cannot investigate Russia for the crime of aggression because Moscow has not ratified the statute of the court, and would veto any attempt by the UN Security Council to submit a referral.
Sir Keir urged Boris Johnson to get behind a special tribunal to prosecute Putin and his associates for the crime of aggression, based on the tribunal set up to prosecute Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg after World War II.
“Vladimir Putin and his criminal cronies must be held to account for their illegal invasion of Ukraine,” said Sir Keir on Monday.
The Labour leader added: “The UK government must do all it can to ensure the creation of a special tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression.
“The Ukrainian people deserve justice as well as our continued military, economic, diplomatic, and humanitarian assistance.”
It follows a call from Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who said a special international tribunal to prosecute a crime of aggression case would “fill a gap” in global efforts to bring the Putin regime to account.
The crime of aggression – under which political leaders and military chiefs can be held individually responsible for an invasion – came into force at the ICC in 2018.
The ICC cannot, at present, deal with crimes of aggression by states that have not ratified its statute.
But legal campaigners have called for the UK and other countries to add to the pressure on Russia by pushing for a dedicated, special criminal tribunal to probe the crime of aggression.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was grilled on the issue by senior Tory MP Tom Tugendhat on Monday. Asked if she was willing to push for a new international tribunal, given the ICC could not prosecute for crimes of aggression, Ms Truss replied: “I’m willing to look at it, yes.”
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced last week he had begun investigating war crimes after a referral from 39 countries.
Mr Johnson and No 10 have explicitly accused Mr Putin of war crimes, with Downing Street claiming “horrific acts” were occurring on an almost hourly basis in Ukraine as civilian population centres are targeted.
The prime minister told MPs: “What we have seen already from Vladimir Putin’s regime in the use of the munitions that they have already been dropping on innocent civilians, in my view, already fully qualifies as a war crime.”
Meanwhile, the Labour leader said on Monday that Mr Johnson was still not “fit for office”, despite the Labour leader’s promise of political unity in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in London on Monday, Sir Keir said: “My position on the prime minister and what I think of him hasn’t changed, I don’t think he’s fit to be prime minister.
“But at a time when we’re seeing these desperate scenes from Ukraine, my arguments today, my focus today, is on Ukraine.”
