We call for the indictment of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin for crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. As for the Nazi hierarchs, as for Milosevic.
The Russian army’s aggression in Ukraine violated Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations and Articles 7, 8 and 8bis of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). These are implemented not only starting from February 24, 2022, but from February 20, 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and the subsequent war unleashed and fueled to date in the Ukrainian Donbass.
To reaffirm that “There is no peace without justice” and to guarantee a future of peace and democracy for Ukraine, Russia and Europe, the indictment and trial of Vladimir Putin and those who have cooperated with him in the implementation of crimes is a fundamental, necessary and urgent step. The International Criminal Court has already launched an investigation to verify whether Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine; 39 states, including Italy, have already signed up to the Court’s activation procedure.
Now we are calling for a public and transparent criminal trial to ascertain and clarify the responsibilities of Vladimir Putin and of those who, by his side, have committed crimes against humanity.
We, the European citizens:
Given that:
In Ukraine, the Russian army’s aggression violated Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations (1) and Articles 7, 8 and 8bis of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which peremptorily forbid respectively: crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.
The indictment and trial of Vladimir Putin and those who cooperated with him in the implementation of the aforementioned crimes is a fundamental, necessary and urgent step to reaffirm that “There is no peace without justice”, to reaffirm that a future of peace and democracy for Europe, for Russia, must absolutely go through a public and transparent criminal procedure, with the maximum guarantees of defense of the accused subjects, as has already happened in Europe both with the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi hierarchs and with the trials before the Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia of Slobodan Milosevic and those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo between 1991 and 1999.
The International Criminal Court has officially launched an investigation to verify whether Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine; as of March 3, 2022, 39 states, including Italy, have already signed the activation procedure of the Court.
We ask:
the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to work to make possible the indictment before the ICC of Vladimir Putin (President of the Russian Federation) and of anyone else who has committed crimes of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the armed aggression of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, implemented not only starting from February 24, 2022 but starting from February 20, 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and the subsequent war unleashed and fueled until today in the Ukrainian Donbass. Art. 27 of the ICC Statute specifies that there is no immunity for heads of state; Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, is without a doubt the last link in the chain of command responsible for the aforementioned crimes in Ukraine, therefore we ask his indictment before the International Criminal Court.
We ask:
our respective national governments to cooperate with the structures of the International Criminal Court in carrying out the investigation launched into the Russian aggression against Ukraine, facilitating their work, supporting them in all possible ways and adequately financing this initiative.
(1) Members must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force, either against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other way incompatible with the purposes of the United Nations.
