The Chairman of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Theodoros Roussopoulos welcomed Ukraine President Volontimir Zelenski, who addressed a speech at the plenary session of the Convention, a few hours after the signing of an agreement on the Court of Appeal.

The Special Court will be ordered to prosecute senior officials for the crime of aggression – that is, the decision to use armed violence against another State – in violation of the UN Charter.

The agreement was signed by European Secretary General Alain Berce and President Zelenski on behalf of the Ukrainian government.

Zelenski thanked the parliamentary assembly for the “real leadership” he has shown against Russian aggressionnoting that “here, at this assembly, the first appeal for the court – the idea was now born here and now acquires real support from states inside and outside Europe.”

Mr Roussopoulos, predicting the speech of the Ukrainian president, among other things, said: “For more than 1,200 days and nights, the Ukrainian people have endured not only explosions, but also the silence that follows them. Among the nightmares he is experiencing, one is the most dangerous: that people may get used to war, that the full -scale invasion of a sovereign state will be considered normal, that war crimes will become invisible. “

The president of the assembly emphasized that the creation of the Special Court is “a quiet signature on a paper, but bears the burden of an continent and the voice of a people who suffered”. He likened the agreement to a “forging where the law meets memory and steel justice”, adding that “where there is no justice, Nemesis is waiting silent”.

Zelenski then answered questions of Members, stressing the need for no reward for aggression and that “justice must work for war criminals to have nowhere to hide – neither in Europe nor anywhere.”