Ilya Novikov, a partner at BARRISTERS Law Firm, shared his perspective on Ukraine’s situation in the context of the International Criminal Court

He recently returned from The Hague, and according to his observations, the atmosphere at the court resembles that of a besieged fortress.

Indeed, at the start of his second term, U.S. President Trump imposed sanctions against the ICC as an institution, and later imposed separate sanctions against ICC judges who had ruled to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. And with an arrest warrant already in place for Putin and an arrest warrant issued for the Israeli president, the court found itself in a very difficult position. This is because, out of the 122 countries worldwide that are parties to the Rome Statute, there are very few that would execute both of these warrants. Therefore, the court is effectively in limbo, as it cannot count on the unequivocal support of the bloc of countries that condemn international aggression.

As for Ukraine, in the context of victims, Ilya Novikov described our country as “terra incognita” for the ICC. This is because the court has primarily worked with African countries. And the typical scenario was that it all ended with a military official or politician responsible for certain actions being arrested and brought to trial. And since this court does not typically operate ex officio, it could only take up a case after the individual had been arrested and detained in a specific country.

The situation with Russia is somewhat different, and the ICC has not yet determined exactly how it will handle this situation. However, as the speaker noted, a systematic approach is needed. Therefore, it is desirable to have a certain number of lawyers listed in the ICC’s Register of Counsel. Currently, there are three such lawyers at the ICC, including Mr. Illia. He therefore urged his colleagues to join the register.

Another issue he highlighted as of now is that, given the absence of Ukrainian lawyers in the ICC’s register, there is no threat that this practice will be taken over by the Russian bar. In Russia, the ICC is even recognized as an undesirable organization. But if the situation develops differently and Putin’s time comes to an end, we may find ourselves in a critical situation. Thus, it may happen that Ukrainian citizens will be represented before the ICC by Russian or Belarusian lawyers.

Regarding the status of victims, Ilya Novikov noted that a victim in ICC criminal proceedings is not someone who actually suffered harm as a result of a specific war crime, but rather someone identified in the case file compiled by the prosecutor. Therefore, the case file must be prepared in such a way that the prosecutor recognizes the case as one that is clear and easy to work with.

The speaker also raised the issue of lobbying to ensure that certain countries—which refuse to transfer Russian assets directly to Ukraine—agree to provide these funds to a compensation fund specifically linked to the ICC. This lobbying can be conducted both at the state level and from within the ICC’s legal community.