Warrant for Putin’s Arrest Issued

The Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Children’s Rights Commissioner of the Russian Federation President’s Office, reported the Court

The warrant for Putin’s arrest was issued due to his responsibility for war crimes, illegal deportation of children, and forcible transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.

The Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Lvova-Belova is charged with war crime of illegal deportation of children and forcible transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Namely, 16,221 Ukrainian children were forcibly taken to Russia. Yesterday, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine announced that there was evidence of illegal transfer of hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia. The Commission’s report categorically claims that Russia committed other war crimes in Ukraine as well, such as attacks on hospitals, torture, rape and intentional murder.

Video of the statement of the President of the ICC, Judge Piotr Hofmański.

Those who feel like committing crime during daytime, and sleep peacefully at night,
they should look into history, said for BBC the ICC prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan.

Khan added that nobody thought Slobodan Milosevic, who was tried for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, would end up in the Hague.

Ukraine welcomed the decision, calling it “historic day” and “just the beginning”. The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted in English:

Wheels of justice are turning: I applaud the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over forcible transfer of Ukrainian children, reported Kuleba.

Wheels of Justice are turning: I applaud the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over forcible transfer of Ukrainian children. International criminals will be held accountable for stealing children and other international crimes.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 17, 2023

The former Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, described the warrants as “toilet paper”.

After the publishing of the news, Russia responded immediately. Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia considers the Court’s decisions “null and void”, and that the questions asked by the Court are “disgraceful and unacceptable”.

Answering the question whether Putin was afraid to travel to countries under the jurisdiction of the ICC, Peskov responded that he “had nothing to add on that topic”.

Today, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, stated that the decisions of the International Criminal Court had no bearing on Russia, hence all warrants are void.

The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no consequences for our country, not even from a legal standpoint, Zakharova stated on Telegram.

She added that Russia is not a member of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and thus has no obligation towards that Court which means that “all potential arrest warrants by the International Court are null and void.”

Russia is one of the countries that does not recognize the International Criminal Court. The ICC cannot arrest Vladimir Putin, but that depends on the 123 countries that signed an Agreement with the Court called the “Rome Statute”. That means that Putin will not be arrested, nor extradited to Russian territory. But if he traveled to any other country that recognizes the Court, he could be arrested.

The ICC was established to bring justice to those responsible for the worst crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Court has global jurisdiction and is the last instance that intervenes only when the national authorities are unable to or are unwilling to prosecute.

Author: Vesna Kolovska

 

 

 

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This article was developed within the framework of the project Promoting Access to Reliable News to Counter Disinformation, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation. The article, that was previously published in Truthmeter, was enabled with the support of the American non-profit foundation NED (National Endowment for Democracy). The contents of the article is the responsibility of the author and do not always reflect the positions of Metamorphosis Foundation, NED or their partners.

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