“Abducting at least hundreds of people and treating them as loot”
3rd all-time arrest warrant issued by head of state
Russia’s withdrawal from the ICC is unlikely to be effective
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) on Wednesday (local time) on charges of illegally relocating children from occupied Ukraine. This is the first time the ICC has officially identified a high-ranking Russian figure as a suspect since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Reuters reported that it is the third time that an arrest warrant has been issued for a head of state, after former President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and former dictator Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
In a statement posted on the website that day, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II found no reasonable grounds to hold President Putin responsible for the war crimes of illegally relocating children from occupied Ukraine based on the prosecution’s claim on the 22nd of last month. He said that there is. The judge judged that these crimes began at least on February 24 last year, the day of the invasion. An arrest warrant has also been issued for the same charges against Maria Levovabelova, a member of the Russian presidential office for children’s rights.
According to the ICC, Russia appears to have carefully planned the abduction and forced displacement of Ukrainian children. “The cases we have seen include the abduction of at least hundreds of Ukrainian children from orphanages and child care centers and their forcible relocation[to Russia],” said ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan. The law has also been amended to make it easier for families to adopt. It is unacceptable that children are treated like spoils of war.”
In a recent CNN interview, Prosecutor Khan saw that President Putin could eventually be dragged out of court like a Nazi war criminal, but it is predicted that it will be difficult in reality. When an ICC arrest warrant is issued, the State party must fulfill the arrest and extradition request, as Russia withdrew from the ICC in 2016. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskovler called it “absurd and ineffective”.
According to Reuters, President Putin paid an unannounced visit to Crimea to mark the 9th anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea on the 18th, visiting a children’s center and an art school. Russian state news agency TASS reported that Putin drove the car to Sevastopol, a port city in the southwestern part of Crimea. Analysts say that his visits to children’s centers and art schools are ridiculing the ICC’s decision to accuse him of child abduction. On the 19th, President Putin also visited Mariupol in Donetsk, Donbass region in southeastern Ukraine, which was occupied in May last year. This is the first time he has visited Donbas, which is under war, according to the TASS news agency.
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.