German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock on Monday called for a special tribunal to try Russian leaders over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow is again accused of war crimes after the Dnipro attack in Ukraine, AFP reported.

In her speech in The Hague, Annalena Burbok called for a “new format” of a court that would “bring Russian leaders to justice” and that would use Ukrainian law, perhaps, but would be based abroad and composed of international judges.

The war of aggression will not go unpunished

The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, but has no jurisdiction to try “crimes of aggression” by Russia, as Moscow is not a signatory to the Treaty of Rome, which established the ICC.

After the Russian invasion, calls for the creation of a tribunal to consider the crimes of Russian aggression against Ukraine became more frequent.

“We have to send a clear message to Russian leaders here and now that aggressive war will not go unpunished,” Annalena Burbok from the Academy of International Law in The Hague emphasized.

“It is important for us to have an international component, for example a place outside of Ukraine, with financial support from partners and with international prosecutors and judges,” she emphasized. “It would be a new format,” she added.

Call to change the charter of the CPI

The head of German diplomacy then announced that she would discuss with Ukraine and other allies a “special solution” that could “withdraw its jurisdiction from Ukrainian criminal law.”

Annalena Burbok also calls for changes to the statute of the International Criminal Court in The Hague so that the Court can eventually try Russian leaders of aggression.

The only other option at the moment involves a UN Security Council resolution, which would face a veto from Moscow, which has a permanent mandate on the council.