About the Special Tribunal
The proposal to establish a Special Tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine originated from Ukrainian legal experts and government officials soon after the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The idea quickly gained support from international lawyers, human rights organisations, and several countries, particularly in Europe, who identified a legal gap:
No existing court has yet been able to hold senior leaders accountable for the specific crime of aggression against Ukraine.
Milestones in the creation of the Special Tribunal
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was the first international body to call for the establishment of such a tribunal in April 2022, just two months after the full-scale invasion.
Early in the discussions the Council of Europe expressed its readiness to establish the Special Tribunal under its auspices and to provide the necessary institutional framework.
After two years of legal work at the technical level, in early 2025, the three draft legal documents needed for the establishment of the Special Tribunal (the bilateral agreement, the statute annexed to it, and an enlarged partial agreement) were submitted to the political level for approval.
Political backing was given by interested states in Lviv, Ukraine on 9 May 2025. The establishment of the Special Tribunal was officially requested by the Ukrainian authorities on 13 May 2025 and endorsed by the annual meeting of Council of Europe foreign ministers in Luxembourg the following day.
On 4 June 2025, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers set up and ad hoc working party on the Special Tribunal, which it opened to its member states, observer states, and the European Union. The ad hoc working party was instructed to examine the draft legal documents nd to prepare the decisions required to establish the Special Tribunal within the framework of the Council of Europe. The ad hoc working party gave a green light to the three documents on 20 June 2025.
The bilateral agreement was signed by Ukraine and the Council of Europe on 25 June 2025. The Tribunal’s Statute was annexed to it.
The work on setting up the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Management Committee of the Special Tribunal is ongoing.
The establishment of the Special Tribunal aligns with the Council of Europe’s mandate to uphold human rights, democracy, and the rule of law on the European continent. Ensuring accountability for the crime of aggression underlines efforts to fight impunity and the understanding that there can be no peace without justice.
The Special Tribunal will cooperate with and complement the existing work of the International Criminal Court and other international and national efforts to ensure accountability.
Jurisdiction and Mandate
The Special Tribunal will have the power to investigate, prosecute and try individuals who bear the greatest responsibility for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
Its jurisdiction will be based on the territorial jurisdiction of Ukraine. The Statute does not define the temporal jurisdiction of the Special Tribunal, ie the period to be covered by the Special Tribunal.
The definition of the crime of aggression is based on Article 8bis of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. For the purposes of the Special Tribunal,the crime of aggression encompasses what is referred to as a “war of aggression” in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974).
Once the Special Tribunal has investigated, prosecuted and tried the individuals concerned, it will have fulfilled its mandate. It will then be dissolved. A residual mechanism, which will also guarantee the right of retrial for defendants convicted in absentia, will be established at that time.