Sir Geoffrey Nice, the British judge who presided over the prosecution of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, says Russian leader Vladimir Putin should be tried this year in Ukraine for war crimes committed there.

The case against Putin “couldn’t be clearer” and there is “no doubt” that there is a chain of command leading to the Kremlin strongman, Sir Geoffrey Nice explained to the BBC, News.ro reports.

“The most important thing” is that the Russian leader should be judged personally, and not lower-ranking soldiers. From his point of view, the trial can even take place “tomorrow morning” and must be organized by Ukrainians in the Ukrainian language, and Putin himself must be present in the box of the accused.

Sir Geoffrey Nice also told the BBC that Putin was to blame for attacks on civilian targets during the war. The British magistrate is surprised that prosecutors and politicians have not “explained it much more freely and openly”.

The magistrate also sees a possible reason why the Russian leader has not yet faced tougher measures, suggesting that Putin may try to avoid prosecution as part of the peace deal. Jeffrey Nice says the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) “reluctance” to indict Putin has raised the “dreadful prospect” of the court prioritizing a peace deal.

The ICC rejected the idea that prosecutor Karim Khan was under “pressure or influence” to delay the investigation and said arrest warrants would be issued when enough evidence was gathered.

On the other hand, it is notoriously difficult to directly link a political leader to crimes committed by armed forces on the ground, and even if Vladimir Putin were to be indicted, prosecuting him would be a difficult task absent the collapse of his regime.

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