00:00The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe Human Rights Body has approved a special tribunal
00:05to prosecute Russia's leadership over its war of aggression against Ukraine.
00:09To hear what's behind this idea, I spoke to the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe,
00:13Alain Berset, and started by asking him if he would have any teeth.
00:17You know, it depends on the political will of member states.
00:21We have now more than 36 countries ready to join the special tribunal.
00:26We need to have a location, a precise budget, and then the strong engagement of the member states.
00:33And then it can go fast.
00:35Political will is always the question.
00:36We know that under President Donald Trump, the United States has not signed up to this initiative.
00:41Could that undermine the credibility of it?
00:45I don't think so.
00:46You know, I mean, we are really developing a huge framework for accountability.
00:50We have the European Court of Human Rights working on cases.
00:53We have the Register of Damage and the Claims Commission, and now the third pillar, the special tribunal.
00:58And the whole context will be key for Ukraine, for stability in the context of the war, after the war.
01:06But who's going to pay?
01:07Who will fund this tribunal?
01:09The member states, as I said before.
01:12I mean, the member states must have the political will to develop the tribunal and also to fund the tribunal.
01:18We need now to have a precise budget for this tribunal.
01:22We have also some experiences with precedent cases and also allocation, and we are working quite hard on this.
01:29I mean, with what's happening right now, we will be able also to deliver on this very soon.
01:34And what happens if there is a peace deal?
01:36Could it establish then a blank amnesty and therefore render the tribunal pointless?
01:40Accountability and justice will be probably absolutely key in all peace discussions.
01:44And what will happen will be in the discussions.
01:47But the best thing we can do to support Ukraine, to support the rule of law, to support justice,
01:54is to be ready with the framework on accountability.
01:56And it's exactly the reason why we are supported so strongly by member states for doing this.
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