Olga Aivazovska, head of the board of the Civil Network OPORA spoke at the press briefing of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory.
According to her, after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, OPORA started collecting evidence of Russian war crimes. During the first weeks of the war, five terabytes of information were collected and transferred to law enforcement agencies. As Aivazovska emphasized, those who decided to start armed aggression against Ukraine should be punished, and for this purpose, a Special Tribunal on Russian aggression must be established.
She noted that despite the seriousness of the crime of aggression, there is no international consensus regarding the institution that should try the leader of the aggressor country. "After World War II and the 75 million lives it took, the world realized that a crime against peace is serious. But legally, no full-fledged instrument has been created. Especially when one of the parties committing aggression is a member of the UN Security Council," the head of the board of OPORA said.
The International Center for Ukrainian Victory is an initiative that helps the state in communication about international support because different countries of the world have different relations with Ukraine and their own cautions about the creation of the Special Tribunal. "We have formed a coalition of high-level experts and are looking for strong arguments for each of the countries. We are also involving countries that have suffered from crimes of aggression or war crimes committed on their territory," Aivazovska said.
For example, Syria is one of the countries that can support Ukraine. "Any Syrian in Europe, when they hear that you are Ukrainian, will be as empathetic towards you as no Slav will be. You should understand why. Because the generals who destroyed Syrian cities have the same surnames as the generals who destroyed Mariupol. Syrians can create public, expert, and media coalitions and become voices of support for Ukraine."