International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Putin
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on March 17 that it had issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Russia Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
The warrants were issued in the context of the situation in Ukraine, the ICC said.
The court said that Putin was 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 crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from February 24 2022, the court said.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes…for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others and for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility,” the ICC said.
Lvova-Belova, born on October 25 1984, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, 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 court said.
The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from February 24 2022, it said.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Ms Lvova-Belova bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others.”
The court said that its Pre-Trial Chamber II considered, based on the Prosecution’s applications of February 22 2023, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.
“The Chamber considered that the warrants are secret in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation,” the ICC said.
“Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber.”
(Photo: kremlin.ru)
Please support independent journalism by clicking on the ‘become a patron’ button below and signing up to become a Patreon supporter of The Sofia Globe. For as little as three euro a month or the equivalent in other currencies, you can support The Sofia Globe via patreon.com:
