Growing support for Russia to face special tribunal

16 January 2023

There is growing support internationally for a special tribunal to be set up in order to try Russian officials for the alleged crime of aggression in Ukraine.

The initiative, with which Aarif Abraham of our international criminal and humanitarian law team has been closely involved, was first proposed by Professor Philippe Sands KC who has recently drafted a joint statement, alongside former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, calling for a special tribunal.

The new statement in support of a special tribunal, and asking the UK Government to back such a tribunal, has received the endorsement of highly respected legal figures such as Baroness Helena Kennedy KC and Cherie Blair KC, as well as influential public figures from across the political divide, including Sir Keir Starmer MP, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Sir Edward Davey, The Lord Bishop of Coventry and celebrity polymath Stephen Fry, and has been covered by several media outlets including The Guardian, CNN (article / video), The Times, Project Syndicate and Jurist.

Read the statement calling for the creation of a special tribunal here and a version of the list of signatories to the statement, as it stood at 17 Jan 2023, was published by Project Syndicate at the end of this article.