“The situation is very hard in Ukraine,” Chief Justice of Ukraine Vsevolod Kniaziev told reporters Oct. 31, the first day of a four-day international judicial education conference organized by Canada’s National Judicial Institute.
Chief Justice of Ukraine Vsevolod Kniaziev
Asked by The Lawyer’s Daily whether he believes the Russian regime is committing genocide in Ukraine, Chief Justice Kniaziev replied “I think so, because I do not have any other explanation why Russian troops are destroying civil objects. Why do they destroy schools, hospitals? Why do they destroy civil infrastructure? Why do they destroy private buildings, private houses and everything like this?” he said.
“Russia always considered there is no Ukraine nationality,” he said. “They always considered that Ukraine is just part of Russia. And we should be with Russia always. But Ukraine is independent country. It has its own choice. And it has chosen to be with European community and ... its Euro-Atlantic choice, and this vote made Putin to be very angry, and that is why there's a war again,” he explained. “So I’m absolutely sure that Russian Federation, [the] large Russian leadership is committing genocide against citizens of Ukraine, just to destroy, to kill all the citizens of Ukraine and to destroy the Ukrainian nation.”
Chief Justice Kniaziev said “we hope the International Criminal Court will try cases against the Russian leadership, the Russian military and political leadership.”
And because the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the crime of “aggression,” the chief justice said Ukraine is asking the international community to create a special international tribunal to prosecute the Russian leadership for its illegal war on Ukraine.
“The small cases, convicting the soldiers who committed the war crimes ... there are thousands of such cases,” he noted. “I don’t think that ICC will manage to deal with all these cases. They should be tried by Ukrainian ... courts or by courts in other countries.”
Asked whether he is optimistic that international justice can be brought to bear on the crimes committed by Russia in its continuing illegal war on Ukraine — which has killed thousands and displaced millions of Ukrainians, Chief Justice Kniaziev replied “I hope so.”
“I think that it is a test of international justice,” he stressed. “And it is the test for the whole system of international security in the world, which shows to be not so ideal by this time,” he said. “I cannot understand how an aggressive war can be started in 21st century in the centre of Europe.
“So the international community must react ... so that this situation will not repeat in future,” he warned. “If the international community doesn’t react ... it will be a sign ‘we can start an aggressive war in any part of the world’ — and it may touch anyone, anyone! So we expect the reaction from the international community, and punishment for all those criminals.”
The chief justice thanked Canada and its citizens for humanitarian support and defence aid to Ukraine, including the country’s intake of Ukrainian refugees.
He also stated his conviction that Ukraine will prevail, and urged Canada to look ahead to rebuilding Ukraine, including with a groundbreaking law enabling the forfeiture of Russian assets held here by those sanctioned by Canada, and the redirection of those assets/funds to Ukraine (Bill C-19, the Budget Implementation Bill 2022, #1 contained these novel provisions, and received royal assent June 23, 2022.)
“We need to arrest these assets outside Russia and to use further for recovering the losses for restoring the Ukraine,” the chief justice said. “We should think about the future. I’m sure Ukraine will win, sooner or later — I hope it will be sooner. But then we will have the question about rebuilding our country. And that is the issue in which the European countries, the North American countries can help Ukraine, including Canada.”
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Photo by Cristin Schmitz
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