PRESS RELEASE: THE COURTS FIRST SESSION & THE UKRAINE TRIBUNAL
VLADIMIR PUTIN ON TRIAL IN THE HAGUE FOR CRIME OF AGGRESSION
THE HAGUE - Despite the ongoing invasion, bombings, rape, and murder in Ukraine, there has been no accountability for the victims and perpetrators. On the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and the leadership of the Russian Federation will face trial before a people’s tribunal for the alleged crime of aggression since February 24, 2022.
"The CCW - A People's Tribunal of the Citizens of the World" has been inaugurated by Ben Ferencz (102), the NGO “Cinema for Peace," and the current Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk of Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties. THE CCW was established by concerned citizens of the world in 2021 and will serve an indictment for a trial starting on February 20, 2023, with a verdict expected on February 24, 2023. It is based on the principles of individual responsibility for crimes as defined by the Nuremberg trials and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Court will address the growing global demand for international accountability for tyrannical states and heads of state in the face of impunity and the absence of timely and meaningful justice efforts by states, regional, and international courts, institutions, and UN bodies.
"No court in the world is holding Vladimir Putin responsible; the citizens of the world will," say the initiators and Ben Ferencz (102), the last living Nuremberg prosecutor and honorary patron of the CCW. Ferencz prosecuted the leaders of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen in Nuremberg in 1947 and joined chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in 2011 in delivering the closing statement before the first verdict of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Last year, the US Congress voted to award him the Congressional Gold Medal, an honour bestowed on fewer than one hundred individuals in US history.
Matviichuk is taking over the torch from Ben Ferencz, who has been advocating the prosecution of the crime of aggression for 80 years and whose health is deteriorating after a lifelong battle for justice: “The time has come for civilization to prosecute the crime of aggression - and for the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, and the European Union to follow this example. Whoever launches a war of aggression needs to be punished. Violence must be prosecuted.”
Matviichuk will appear in court as an expert witness on February 23rd and join witnesses of murder, torture, rape, and displacement. The former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and the Operation Allied Force during the Kosovo War, Wesley Clark, will join the Court on February 21 as an expert for war operations and will possibly be asked about the Russian claim on NATO provoking the invasion of Ukraine by endangering Russia.
Media and the public who wish to join the First Session of the court on Monday at 9.30 a.m. at the Spanish Court (seat of the Government of The Netherlands 1588-1913) in The Hague may apply for accreditation and interviews at media@the-court.eu.
Nobel Peace Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk will inaugurate “The Court” at 9.30 a.m. with a statement before The CCW starts its first historic session at 10 am.
Matviichuk will give her court testimony in person on February 23.
The Prosecutors of the CCW have served an indictment for a trial in The Hague before the Panel of Judges, including Zak Yacoob, anti-apartheid activist and former justice appointed by Nelson Mandela at the Constitutional of South Africa Prosecutors, starting February 20, 2023, with a verdict expected on February 24, 2023, determining whether the evidence supports the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Putin, which will be shared with sanctioning states, the International Criminal Court, and the United Nations. In addition, the citizens of the world who register on the Courts’ website to follow the proceedings will be able to vote at the end of the proceedings about their opinion on the case.
Following the trial, the Cinema for Peace Foundation will produce a film and a VICTIM’S FILM LIBRARY, which was first created in Bosnia with the help of the German Federal Foreign Office and Angelina Jolie to create the biggest audio-visual history documentation of the attempted genocide in Srebrenica.
In the Courts’ first historic session from February 20 to 24, 2023, the panel of judges will hear evidence about the alleged crimes and rule over alleged crimes against humanity and related war crimes resulting from the alleged crime of aggression of Russia, including:
a) Murder; b) Imprisonment; c) Torture; d) Rape; e) Forcible displacement; f) Enforced disappearance.
The CCW provides a public platform for victims to present evidence about the crimes experienced. In this respect, The CCW invited NGOs, civil society actors, and victims with relevant evidence relating to the crimes - who wish to bring forth evidence in these of public hearings - to contact the Courts’ Secretariat at media@the-court.eu for potential further sessions.
The CCW calls on global citizens aged 16 and above who wish to participate in this unprecedented effort of justice by global public opinion to register on the Courts’ website for the UKRAINE TRIBUNAL to have a chance to examine the facts and cast a vote on the liability of Vladimir Putin and others for the crimes mentioned above. The registration includes proof of identity, name, and address.
READ MORE / BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Following previous models of “informal” international justice such as the Russell Tribunals on Vietnam (1966-1967), the tribunals on the dictatorships in Latin America (1973-1976), and the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (1979-present), The CCW will provide a transparent and informed platform, staffed by international experts in justice to bring to light unheard cases of violations of the Rome Statute and/or of the Universal Declaration of People’s Rights and render judgment on the potential liability of leaders involved for their criminal behaviour. However, unlike these previous peoples’ tribunals, the CCW will seek to integrate the global participation of citizens who wish to engage with the evidence and participate in rendering a judgment of public opinion on the liability of the state and leaders involved.
As proven by previous peoples’ tribunals, the results of such justice efforts can range from the denunciation of crimes, the recognition of victims previously in the shadows, documentation and preservation of evidence that could later be used in further proceedings, to pressure states and international institutions to address the impunity by triggering effective economic sanctions, establishing courts with enforcement powers, and developing other processes to provide reparations for victims and survivors.
The brutal war in Ukraine indicates an age of impunity in the 21st century. No matter how far international justice has progressed since WW2, the world is seeing less accountability for it, and leaders are not being held accountable for murder and crimes against humanity.
Jaka Bizilj, the former advisor to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the UN Security Council hearing on genocide and crimes against humanity by the leadership of Sudan, serves as the producer of the CCW: “We support a People’s Court to give justice where the official bodies are unable to do so and to put an end to the impunity enjoyed by political leaders”. The organizers have assembled a group of investigators, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, human rights defenders, and legends of justice to start the CCW.
A patron of the CCW is 102-year-old Benjamin Ferencz, prosecutor of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen in Nuremberg and spiritus rector of the ICC. Advisors on how civil society can influence universal jurisdiction include personalities such as Bill Browder, who single-handedly and against all odds introduced the Sergei Magnitsky rule of law sanctions to the world after his lawyer and accountant were tortured to death in a Moscow prison. The establishment of Global Magnitsky sanctions was a powerful step against global impunity.
The court of the Citizens of the World serves the aim of a People's Tribunal for Universal Human Rights as defined by the United Nations. It will aim to hear cases that cannot be heard by state courts, due to existing legal impediments of international law. It aims to make leaders accountable for international crimes they have committed in their regimes. The CCW is established by the citizens of the world for the citizens of the world. Victims and witnesses will be able to give their testimonies publicly before the CCW and a global audience - either in person or in writing. Independent prosecutors will draft the indictments for the crimes committed, and a panel of independent judges will deliver the Courts’ findings.
The Courts’ goal is to change the way international justice is perceived, to motivate governments and official judiciary bodies to take more and much faster action, to educate the public, and to press for a global system of fair and enforceable justice.
During its first session, the CCW will hear the victims of the invasion of Ukraine who will get an opportunity to raise their voices at the
UKRAINE TRIBUNAL FEBRUARY 18th, 2023.
Victims of the invasion of Ukraine got an opportunity to raise their voices, which the Cinema for Peace Foundation will record for a film and its VICTIM’S FILM LIBRARY, which was first created in Bosnia with the help of the German Federal Foreign Office and Angelina Jolie as the biggest audio-visual history documentation of the attempted genocide in Srebrenica.
The Court Participants
For the first case brought to The Court, the case against the Russian leadership, the following professionals have confirmed their participation in the roles of the judge:
Judges
Zak Yacoob is a retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Born on March 3, 1948, he became blind at sixteen months due to meningitis. He attended Arthur Blaxall School for the Blind in Durban from 1956 to 1966. Yacoob earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of College, Durban (now the University of Durban-Westville), majoring in English and Private Law, and completed his Bachelor of Law degree there in 1972. Admitted as an advocate on March 12, 1973, he practiced in Durban from July 1973 to May 1991, representing many prosecuted for contraventions of apartheid-era restrictions and emergency measures. He took silk in May 1991. His activism against apartheid included chairing the Democratic Lawyers Association (Durban) and participating in the United Democratic Front. Appointed to the Constitutional Court by President Mandela on February 1, 1990, he retired in 2015.
Stephen J. Rapp is an American lawyer and former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice. His career includes roles as a private practice lawyer, a Democratic member of the Iowa House of Representatives, and Staff Director and Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Rapp was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. In 2001, he joined the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, leading the prosecution in the "Media Trial" against RTLM radio station and Kangura newspaper leaders for inciting the Rwandan genocide. As Chief of Prosecutions of the ICTR in 2005, he assisted Chief Prosecutor Hassan Jallow in prosecuting those involved in the 1994 genocide. In 2007, Rapp succeeded Desmond de Silva as the third Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, directing the prosecution of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Appointed Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues by President Barack Obama, he served from 2009 to 2015.
Priya Pillai is a lawyer and international law specialist with two decades of experience in international justice, human rights, transitional justice, peace, conflict, and humanitarian issues. She obtained her Ph.D. in International Law and Transitional Justice from the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies, Geneva. Pillai's work includes roles at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and various civil society organizations, consulting on international law implementation for groups like WHO, Amnesty International, and the IFRC.
Prosecutors
David Akerson, a senior attorney with experience at the United Nations Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Lebanon tribunals, has worked on international crimes in Syria, Iraq, South Africa, Cambodia, and Sierra Leone for various NGOs.
Tapas K. Baul specializes in Litigation, Criminal and Civil matters and is a panel lawyer at the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh, adjunct faculty at Open University and Jahangirnagar University.
Drew White KC is an international lawyer from Canada with 35 years of trial experience, including international investigations in Rwanda, Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Ukrainian NGO Partners
Centre For Civil Liberties (Nobel Peace Prize 2022 Winner)
Docudays
Rinat Akhmetov Foundation
ZMINA
Media Initiative for Human Rights Sich
Kharkiv Human Rights