At the start of this new year, the European Union parliament passed a resolution demanding the Russian political and military leadership be held responsible for crimes of aggression against Ukraine.

Currently the International Criminal Court cannot investigate the crime of aggression in reference to Ukraine. It specified the establishment of a special international tribunal that would bridge this gap in international criminal justice.

It’s ironic that the concept of the crime of aggression was actually introduced in 1943 by a Soviet jurist, Aron Naumovich Trainin. In 1944 he proposed that Nazi leaders could be dealt with either through a tribunal or the “political verdict of the victorious democratic states”, and this from a representative of a totalitarian state.

A crime of aggression or a crime against peace is known to be the planning, initiation or execution of a large-scale and serious act of aggression using military force. Although the definition and scope of this crime has not found total consensus, the Rome Statue lists numerous acts that can lead to individual criminal responsibility including forceful annexation, military occupation, invasion, bombardment, the blockade of ports, etc.
A crime of aggression is stated to be a leadership crime, committed by individuals in position as policymakers, not the front-line personnel who execute the policy. It derives from an understanding that waging a war without a just cause for “self defense” is unjust.

Aggression is currently criminalized in statute laws of some countries and is a core crime in international criminal law. Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, to which many have referred recently, are also identified as core crimes. Aggression is seen as not only a crime against a state, but also a crime against those who are harmed or killed as a result of this aggression.

The notion of a “just war” does exist and is acceptable if fought for self-defence or defence of allies – not for territorial aggrandizement. Since the Nuremberg trials of top German Nazis and the prosecution of other European leaders of the 1940s, no one has been prosecuted for aggression, not for Crimea, the Donbas, South Ossetia.

In late November 2022 the European Parliament passed another resolution regarding Russia, declaring it to be a state sponsor of terrorism. The Parliament outlined deliberate attacks and atrocities against civilians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, violations of international and humanitarian laws to be acts of terror and war crimes. Thus Russia was declared a sponsor of terror and a state that “uses means of terror”.


(Pikemalt saab lugeda Eesti Elu 27. jaanuari 2023 paber- ja digilehest)

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