Statement by foreign affairs committee chairs calling for the creation of an international criminal tribunal into Vladimir Putin’s criminal conspiracy.

“We, the chairs of our respective countries’ foreign affairs committees call for the immediate cessation of military force by the Russian Federation and its proxies in Ukraine, and the immediate withdrawal of all Russia occupation forces from Ukraine;

We consider the war to be illegal under the Charter of the United Nations and to amount to an act of aggression for which criminal responsibility of individual perpetrators may arise;

We recognise that the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction for war crimes and crimes against humanity which may be committed on the territory of Ukraine, and welcome the ICC Prosecutor’s announcement that he will open an investigation into the Situation in Ukraine, and the referral made by 39 State Parties of the Rome Statute to the ICC Prosecutor’s Office.

Further to any charges that may be brought through the ICC and beyond the competence of the Court, we declare the planning and the waging of this war to be a crime of aggression under international law, drawing precedent from inter alia the 1946 Judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and subsequent developments in international law and national laws, including the Russian Federation’s Criminal Code Article 353 (Planning, Preparing, Unleashing, or Waging on Aggressive War);

We call for the creation of an International Criminal Tribunal to be established with jurisdiction to judge charges beyond the scope of the ICC investigation as announced, and to investigate Vladimir Putin and all other individuals who participate in the decision to wage this illegal war and its continuation, including the military and civilian leadership, to operate alongside the ICC on matters on which it does not have jurisdiction;

We call for this International Criminal Tribunal to be established as soon as possible, and to be charged with the collection of evidence of these crimes of aggression, including the identification of financial and all other assets for use in support of the commission of the crime of aggression;

We call for the International Criminal Tribunal to have jurisdiction over any person who has facilitated this crime of aggression, including any person who has materially contributed to or shaped the commission of that crime, including by making available financial assets or providing advice; and to have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute previous flagrant violations of international law perpetrated by or on behalf of Vladimir Putin by the use of chemical and nuclear substances, assassinations and the laundering of financial assets which are the profits of corruption in Russia;

We demand that the international community creates a fund to hold such assets until a time as reparations to Ukraine are paid and this criminal conspiracy has ended;

We demand that all profits of this criminal conspiracy should be returned to the Russian people.”

Text of the Statement and names of the signatories

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