The Council ratified the Roman Statute: what it means for the Armed Forces and Crimes of the Russian Federation

The Ukrainian military should not be afraid that they will get into the International Criminal Court, the representative of the President's office Irina Wise reassured. I protect them the amendments that the Verkhovna Rada adopted and the peculiarities of the work of this judicial body. The People's Deputies supported the bill on ratification of the Roman Statute, which was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on August 15.

Before voting in Parliament, there was a debate as to whether such a decision should be supported and whether it is a threat to the Ukrainian military during the war. The deputy head of the Presidential Office Irina Wise explained that there is no danger and ratification is one of the conditions for joining the European Union. Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote about the details of the vote of parliamentarians in the Telegram. Zheleznyak reported the results of voting on the bill No.

0285 on ratification of the Roman Statute. According to him, ratification was supported in the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the head of the GUR Ministry of Defense Cyril Budanov: the Council read the corresponding letters. As a result, the regulatory act was supported. The votes of "for" - 281, "against" - 1, abstained - 22, did not vote - 24. Who exactly was "against" and ignored the vote is not yet known, since the results have not yet been published on the portal of Parliament.

Irina Wise on the portal of the European Truth explained what Ukraine's accession to the Roman Statute. The Roman Statute is an agreement between countries on the establishment of a special International Criminal Court (ICS) that will investigate and consider certain types of crimes. The list includes "aggression crimes, genocide crimes, humanity crimes and war crimes. " The judges of the ISS are authorized to impose punishment to persons who will be found guilty of such actions.

The official lists five more points that are important for understanding the events in the Council regarding the ISS. It should be noted that in the regulatory act adopted on August 21, it is indeed stated that the article in the Statute is ratified with amendments. In the text of the Roman Statute, published on the Council portal, Article 8 lists half a hundred different types of crimes for which the ISS could punish the military but will not punish.

Ukraine signed an agreement on joining the Roman Statute on January 20, 2020. In order for it to become valid, it should be ratified in the Council. This decision was reversed by 2024, until August 15, Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not bring it to parliamentarians. Also, the text of the Law on Ratification states that it will become valid after the adoption of the bill No. 11484-on the amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Code.

Among other things, a new article 31-1 should appear, which is about the responsibility of commanders and military. The corresponding proposals were submitted to the Council on August 15, 2024. Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on August 21 that a "heavy discussion" was held before the vote on the bill. According to him, the People's Deputy and the incumbent serviceman of the SBU of the Center "A" Roman Kostenko spoke. Kostenko's arguments are not given.

The Facebook page has no appropriate comments or explanations yet. Meanwhile, another MP, Alexei Goncharenko, listed the same arguments as the wise. In his opinion, the Roman Statute will allow more effectively to be held accountable for Russian military criminals. Justice Minister Denis M. Masus in the first months of the war commented Radio Liberty on ratification. According to the official, ratification "little changes" in jurisdiction and does not threaten the Ukrainian military.