Abstract
The article analyses how the Law of Ukraine No. 4012-IX of October 9, 2024, implemented the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court into the Criminal Code of Ukraine, identifies the defects of this implementation, and substantiates de lege ferenda proposals. The relevance of the study is defined by Ukraine’s ratification of the Rome Statute under Law No. 3909-IX of August 21, 2024, and the Statute’s entry into force for Ukraine on January 1, 2025, as well as the need for adequate criminalization of international crimes committed during the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The methodology combines formal-legal, comparative-legal, systemic-structural, historical-legal, and logical-legal methods. The empirical basis includes national legislation, the Rome Statute, decisions of international tribunals, positions of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and doctrinal sources. Key defects of the implementation have been identified. The inclusion of Article 31-1 of the Criminal Code in Chapter VI of the General Part “Complicity in a Criminal Offence” was carried out in gross violation of the Code’s systemic coherence. Articles 442 and 442-1 of the Criminal Code contain substantial discrepancies with Articles 6 and 7 of the Rome Statute – primarily with respect to the actus reus of genocide. Article 438 of the Criminal Code requires explicit extension to the laws and customs applicable in non-international armed conflicts. The retention of a broader disposition of Article 437 of the Criminal Code compared to Article 8 bis of the Rome Statute is justified given the specificity of contemporary hybrid threats. The new construct of universal jurisdiction in Part 2 of Article 8 of the Criminal Code is formulated too broadly and fails to account for the international-law immunities of incumbent officials of foreign states. Specific proposals for improving Articles 8, 31-1, 437, 438, 442 and 442-1 of the Criminal Code are formulated. The author’s position on the strategy of further implementation is argued: during the period of martial law, priority should be given to targeted amendments to the current Criminal Code rather than a radical restructuring of the codification through a separate law (Draft Law No. 11538 of September 2, 2024), which may jeopardize tens of thousands of ongoing proceedings. The role of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (Agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe of June 25, 2025 No. 994_002-25) is considered as a complementary mechanism which supplements but does not replace national jurisdiction
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