International Criminal Court (ICC) judges issued an arrest warrant on Friday for Russian President Vladimir Putin over allegedly committing warfare crimes in Ukraine.
The Hague-based ICC stated it had additionally issued a warrant in opposition to Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for kids’s rights, on comparable costs.
Russia shouldn’t be a member of the ICC. It was unclear how the ICC deliberate to implement the warrant.
“Today, pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova,” the ICC stated in an announcement.
Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
The ICC stated the crimes dated from Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes,” it stated.
Putin was allegedly accountable each immediately by committing the acts and for “failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission.”
The arrest warrants are being stored secret to guard victims and witnesses, it stated.
The ICC is a court docket of final resort for crimes that nations can’t or is not going to prosecute warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan launched an investigation into alleged warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity in Ukraine simply days after Russia’s invasion.
‘Spoils of warfare’
Khan stated earlier this month after a go to to Ukraine that the alleged abductions of kids “are being investigated by my office as a priority.”
“Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war,” he stated in an announcement on March 7.
Posting an image of himself alongside empty cots, Khan stated he had visited a care house for kids in southern Ukraine that was “empty, a result of alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation” or different occupied areas.
Khan additionally confirmed that the ICC was investigating assaults on “critical civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine and that he had visited the websites of a number of such strikes.
Along with Ukraine’s prosecutor common, “we underlined our collective commitment to ensure that such acts are fully investigated and those responsible for alleged international crimes held to account,” he added.
The ICC prosecutor added within the assertion that he had a “sense that the momentum toward justice is accelerating.”
Khan has beforehand described Ukraine as a “crime scene,” and has additionally visited the city of Bucha the place Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists noticed at the very least 20 our bodies mendacity in a road.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, however Kyiv has accepted the court docket’s jurisdiction and is working with Khan’s workplace.
Russia denies allegations of warfare crimes by its troops. Experts have stated it’s unlikely it could ever hand over any suspects.
Ukraine chief prosecutor hails ‘historic’ ICC warrant for Putin
Ukraine’s prosecutor common welcomed the ICC determination.
“The world received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and its leadership and henchmen will be held accountable,” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin stated in an announcement on social media. “This is a historic decision for Ukraine and the entire system of international law.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
