An arrest warrant has been issued by Russia for the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor who prepared a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Investogist reported in March that an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
According to a Reuters report, TASS Russian news agency stated that the British prosecutor, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, was added to the Interior Ministry’s wanted list, citing the ministry’s database.
The ICC warrant in March prepared by the Karim Khan, who currently acts as chief prosecutor of the ICC, sought the arrest of Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the children’s rights commissioner, for the alleged war crime of “unlawful deportation and transfer” of children from “occupied areas of Ukraine” to Russia.
The ICC had acted on claims by the government in Kiev that Russia’s evacuation of children from civilian areas that were under fire from Ukrainian forces amounted to forcible transfer of population, which was defined as a crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Three days after Khan’s announcement, on March 20, the Russian Investigative Committee launched a probe into the prosecutor, as well as three ICC judges who approved his warrant – Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez.
The investigation focused on articles 299 and 360 of the Russian criminal code, namely bringing criminal charges against persons known to be innocent, and preparations for an attack on a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations.
The ICC was modeled after the ad-hoc tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which relied on NATO countries to fund its investigations and trials, and enforce its warrants and verdicts.
Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC, alongside the United States, China, India, Israel and several dozen other countries.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
