What will Ukraine’s new Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression do about not being to arrest high level suspects? In part, hold trials in absentia. These are court cases where the accused is unable – or unwilling – to attend their own trials so judges and lawyers continue without them. And even though it’s not been usual in the international criminal courts we have covered, it is happening, and will happen at this new court.

We caught up with Mark Ellis, the Executive Director of the International Bar Association – on the sidelines of a conference – to dive into this interesting and complex topic. He gave us the run-down on how trials in absentia can work in an international crime context and their limitations. And those limitations would see Russian president Vladimir Putin not put on trial while he is still in power. So we discuss immunities for heads of state too.

Via the negotiations for the new Special Tribunal – which Mark attended on occasion – we can also see which countries are more resistant than others to respecting immunity for the very top leadership of a country, while in power. And we wonder whether the new tribunal will get off the ground in time to avoid being sacrificed as part of any ‘peace’ negotiations potentially being imposed by Washington on Kyiv.

Background podcasts include the one with Andriy Kostyn former prosector general and ambassador to The Hague on Ukraine’s side of the negotiations, episode 136 with Lithuania’s deputy foreign minister Gabija Grigaite and Christian Wenaweser the Lichtenstein ambassador to the UN on how the negotiations went from the point of view of the ‘Core Group’. Also good to read the Special Tribunal’s statute to see what is actually in there.