New Delhi: The International Criminal Court (ICC) this week issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crimes of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. In its first warrant for Ukraine, the ICC called for Putin’s arrest from February 24, 2022 on suspicion of illegal deportation of children and illegal transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
“Hundreds of Ukrainian children have been taken from orphanages and children’s homes to Russia,” ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement on Friday (March 17, 2023).
“We allege that many of these children have since been given up for adoption in the Russian Federation,” the statement said.
The alleged acts “demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country. At the time of these deportations, Ukrainian children were protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
Khan said his office would continue to seek additional suspects and “will not hesitate to submit further applications for arrest warrants when the evidence requires us to do so.”
Ukraine has said that more than 16,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or to Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
A US-backed report last month by Yale University researchers said Russia held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in at least 43 camps and other facilities as part of a “large-scale systematic network”.
Vladimir Putin can be detained if he sets foot on the territory of ICC member states
The 123 member countries of the International Criminal Court are bound to detain and transfer Vladimir Putin – who has now become the third serving president to be the target of an ICC arrest warrant after Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi – If he sets foot on their territory.
However, Putin is unlikely to see the inside of a cell in The Hague, Netherlands, where the ICC is located, because he cannot travel abroad to a country where he could be arrested.
His war crimes arrest warrant could harm his ability to travel freely and meet with other world leaders, who may feel less inclined to talk to a wanted man.
What is ICC, which issued arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin?
The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so on their own. The ICC has 123 member states and can prosecute crimes committed by nationals of member states or by other actors on the territory of member states. Russia is not a member and neither are China, the United States or India.
According to media reports, ICC judges have issued 38 arrest warrants and 21 people have been kept in the ICC Detention Center and presented in the court. While 14 people are absconding.
His death has led to charges against five people being dropped and judges issuing 10 convictions and four acquittals.
Past work of the International Criminal Court
Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi are the only other leaders convicted by the ICC while serving as head of state.
Charges against Gaddafi were dropped after he was overthrown and killed in 2011, while Bashir, who was indicted for genocide in Darfur in 2009, remained in office for another decade until toppled in a coup. are. He has since been prosecuted for other crimes in Sudan but not handed over to the ICC.
While in office, he traveled to several Arab and African countries, including ICC member states Chad, Djibouti, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda, which refused to detain him. The court reprimanded those countries or referred them to the United Nations Security Council for noncompliance.
The ICC tried a former head of state after leaving office: former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, who was acquitted of all charges in 2019 after a three-year trial.
Kenyan President William Ruto and his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta were both charged by the ICC before they were elected. The charges against both men have since been dropped. Kenyatta is the only leader to have appeared before the ICC while in office.