ICAR together with scientists and forensic experts discussed the problematic issues of proving and investigating the crime of Russian aggression.

On April 7, 2023, a meeting of the interdepartmental scientific-practical round table "SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR INVESTIGATING THE CRIME OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION: WORLD PRACTICE OF CREATION AND FUNCTIONING" was held at the National Academy of Internal Affairs.

ICAR and the Research Institute of Legislation and Scientific Legal Expertise of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine became the roundtable co-organisers.

The meeting was attended by scientists, forensic practitioners, and members of working groups on establishing the tribunal.

The Institute of Conflictology and Analysis of Russia was represented at the event by the director of the Institute, the head of the social research department, Dr. Alexander Shulga, and the head of the legal research department, Armenak Oganesyan.

In his presentation, the head of the legal department of ICAR outlined the problematic aspects of compensating for the damage caused by Russian armed aggression and possible mechanisms for financing such compensation.

Armenak Oganesyan acquainted the audience with the most relevant models of a special tribunal, which are considered in the international professional community. Special attention deserves an international commission, which can view not only issues of responsibility for the crime of aggression but also property claims of individuals, legal entities, and states affected by the aggressor's actions.

The director of the Institute of Conflictology and Analysis of Russia, Dr Alexander Shulga, identified the prospects for studying Russian society in the context of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

Conference participants learned about ICAR's research on Russian society's attitude towards the crime of aggression committed by their state. In his speech, Alexander Shulga drew attention to the problem of criminal consciousness as a sociological phenomenon in Russian society.

Anton Korinevich, Ukraine's ambassador at large for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a candidate of law, highlighted the current achievements and planned steps towards creating a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. In his speech, he also announced the creation of an international working group on the criminal prosecution of aggression, preparing legal and technical issues for establishing the tribunal.

The reports of forensic practitioners were fascinating, including those of the head of the criminalistics support department of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine, Igor Malyshev, and the head of the Main Department of the National Police in the Kyiv region, Andriy Nebitov. In their reports, they shared their experience collecting evidence of Russian armed aggression on the liberated territories immediately after their release, intending to pass it on to international judicial institutions. Professor of the Law Faculty at Georgetown University, David Tolbert, analysed the issue of holding individuals accountable for the crime of ecocide. The scholar noted that Ukraine has a unique opportunity to significantly contribute to creating international practice for prosecuting crimes against nature. The existing international judicial institutions are relatively limited in their criminal prosecution for this crime.

Eugene Sitnik, head of the public organisation "International Scientific-Expert Center for Monitoring the Consequences of Military Armed Conflicts," spoke about the challenges of qualifying ecocide, collecting and fixing evidence, and calculating damages when investigating this crime. Dr Alexei Kot, director of the Research Institute for Legislative and Scientific Legal Expertise at the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, in his report "Special Tribunal for Putin: Evil Must be Punished!" highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of various models of a special tribunal, justified the need to develop new tools to ensure the implementation of punishments for war criminals. As a result of the scientific-practical round table, the participants developed recommendations for improving national criminal and criminal procedural legislation towards its harmonisation with the norms of the Rome Statute.