A whopping 4 million pounds (4.9 million dollars, 6.41 billion won) was donated at the International Justice Ministers’ Meeting held in London on the 20th (local time) for the International Criminal Court (ICC), which ordered the arrest of Putin as a war crimes officer in Ukraine. An agreement had been reached, British authorities announced.
Justice ministers from over 40 countries who attended the International Conference on War Crimes held in London on this day expressed their gratitude for the ICC’s order of arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 17th and condemnation of his forced removal of Ukrainian children as a war crime on the 17th. Follow-up measures were discussed.
This action by the ICC is the first arrest warrant issued for the heads of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
At the London conference, British Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General Dominic Raab, the host country, gave an opening speech and said, “We share the belief that more people in the Russian leadership, including President Putin, must be held accountable. We must show it not just with words, but with actions. Therefore, we have decided to provide practical means and support to effectively investigate this horrific war crime.”
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said the issuance of an arrest warrant for Putin should not be a momentary victory, but rather a motivator to raise awareness of the “solemn reality” that the world is joining forces to bring justice to the war in Ukraine.
“If we don’t deal with the law at this moment in international justice, if we can’t look back and do better, we don’t lose an opportunity on this matter, but every opportunity to come,” Khan said. will lose everything,” he said.
At a meeting on the 20th, British Deputy Prime Minister Raab raised additional funds from the international community to support the ICC. In addition, several European countries announced that they had agreed to provide the maximum amount of investigative resources, including investigative personnel and forensic experts.
In court on the 17th, the ICC issued arrest warrants not only for Putin, but also for Maria Levovabelova, a child rights officer at the Office of the Russian President.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said at the meeting that “Russia has a ‘convincing plan’ to harm Ukraine by forcibly abducting thousands of Ukrainian children, transporting them to Russia, adopting them into Russian families, and destroying Ukrainian identity.” fulfilled,” he said.
He testified that prosecutors had already launched investigations into 72,000 war crimes in Ukraine and that not a day went by without finding “widespread and systematic barbarism” against civilians.
Although the meeting of attorney generals was convened primarily to support the ICC’s arrest order, Prosecutor General Kostin and Ukrainian President Zelensky urged that a special international team of investigators should be formed to assist in the investigation to uncover the broader crimes of the Russian leadership. insisted.
In a video speech presented at the end of the meeting, Zelensky emphasized, “It is most efficient to form a new special committee to strengthen international judicial enforcement capabilities.”
He has been arguing this for a long time, but has not yet reached an agreement. This is because some countries are concerned that such a committee could rather interfere with the ICC’s decision-making power.
An ICC arrest warrant could hurt Putin’s international standing, but the chances of an actual arrest are limited. This is because the Russian government does not recognize the legal competence of the ICC’s decision and declares that this ruling is “legally invalid and has no effect at all.”
Russia launched a criminal case against the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin.
According to TASS News Agency on the 20th, the Federal Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said in a statement that day, “We have opened a criminal case against ICC Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan, ICC Judge Tomoko Akane, ICC Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and ICC Judge Sergio Ugalde Godinez.” said.
The Federal Investigation Commission explained that under Russian law, they will be charged with attacking foreign officials and criminally prosecuting innocent people for the purpose of aggravating international relations.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation emphasized that, according to international agreements, the head of state enjoys full immunity from foreign jurisdiction, and that “as there is no basis for criminal responsibility, issuing a warrant is clearly illegal.”
Moreover, since Russia withdrew from the ICC in 2016, it is in the position that it cannot be subject to judicial action. On the 18th, the day after the warrant was issued, President Putin made a surprise visit to Mariupol, an occupied Ukrainian territory.
[런던= AP/뉴시스]
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.