Ukraine enlisted the support of Guatemala in creating a special international tribunal that will investigate Russia's crimes. This was announced by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, on Twitter on Saturday, February 25.
"In New York, I was glad to meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores. Guatemala is our faithful friend," Kuleba wrote.
The minister added that during the meeting the parties discussed joint efforts to bring Russia to justice.
"Guatemala will become the first Latin American country to join the core group for the creation of a special tribunal for crimes of aggression against Ukraine," Kuleba said.
In New York, I was glad to meet with @MarioBucaroGT. Guatemala is our true friend. We discussed joint efforts to hold Russia accountable, including for the crime of aggression. Guatemala will join the Core Group on the Special tribunal, the first nation in Latin America to do so. pic.twitter.com/eZP8oFpGk7
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 25, 2023
As you know, 25 countries have already joined the Coordination Group working on the creation of a special tribunal for Russia for war crimes. Denys Maslov, head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy, stated this at a briefing on Thursday, February 23.
At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine proposed to create a special tribunal for the Russian Federation, which would be able to put the higher military and political leadership of the aggressor country on trial.
"Back in the summer, many of the world's experts and politicians did not believe in the possibility of creating such a tribunal, but today 25 countries have joined the so-called Coordination Group, which is working on a model for creating a tribunal," Ukrinform reports.
According to Maslov, Kyiv proposed a draft statute of the tribunal and a model of its work. To date, three models of the special tribunal have been proposed.
"The first model is the model of creating a tribunal based on the decision of the UN General Assembly, where the UN Secretary General can sign an agreement with Ukraine on the creation of such a tribunal based on the resolution. We are satisfied with this model, it was one of our proposals," said the parliamentarian.
The second model, according to him, is a multilateral international agreement open to signing by many countries.
The third model is the hybrid tribunal model, when a court with separate powers is created in the national judicial system of Ukraine, which includes foreign judges. They will be able to consider the issue of responsibility for crimes of aggression against Ukraine.
At the same time, Maslov could not predict when such a special tribunal could be created.
It will be recalled that earlier the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that an international center for the investigation of the crime of aggression by the Russian Federation would be established in The Hague. The court will start work in July this year.