International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Putin over Ukraine war crimes
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine.
The court said in a statement that Mr Putin “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.”
It also issued a warrant on Friday for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, on similar allegations.
The court’s president, Piotr Hofmanski, said in a video statement that while the ICC’s judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them. The court has no police force of its own to enforce warrants.
“The ICC is doing its part of work as a court of law. The judges issued arrest warrants. The execution depends on international cooperation,” he said.
Jurisdiction
A possible trial of any Russians at the ICC remains a long way off, as Moscow does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction — a position reaffirmed earlier this week by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov — and does not extradite its nationals.
Ukraine also is not a member of the court, but it has granted the ICC jurisdiction over its territory and ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has visited four times since opening an investigation a year ago.
The ICC said that its pre-trial chamber found there were “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.”
After his most recent visit, in early March, Mr Khan said he visited a care home for children two kilometres from frontlines in southern Ukraine.
“The drawings pinned on the wall … spoke to a context of love and support that was once there. But this home was empty, a result of alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation or their unlawful transfer to other parts of the temporarily occupied territories,” he said in a statement.
“As I noted to the United Nations Security Council last September, these alleged acts are being investigated by my office as a priority. Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war.”
And while Russia rejected the allegations and warrants of the court as null and void, others said the ICC action will have an important impact.
Wanted man
“The ICC has made Putin a wanted man and taken its first step to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in Russia’s war against Ukraine for far too long,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
“The warrants send a clear message that giving orders to commit, or tolerating, serious crimes against civilians may lead to a prison cell in The Hague.”
Professor David Crane, who indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor 20 years ago for crimes in Sierra Leone, said dictators and tyrants around the world “are now on notice that those who commit international crimes will be held accountable to include heads of state”.
Taylor was eventually detained and put on trial at a special court in the Netherlands. He was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in jail.
“This is an important day for justice and for the citizens of Ukraine,” Prof Crane said.
On Thursday, a UN-backed inquiry cited Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions, among potential issues that amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.
The sweeping investigation also found crimes committed against Ukrainians on Russian territory, including deported Ukrainian children who were prevented from reuniting with their families, a “filtration” system aimed at singling out Ukrainians for detention, and torture and inhumane detention conditions.
But on Friday, the ICC put the face of Mr Putin on the child abduction allegations.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
They took their time!!
And about time too! Look forward to this monster one day facing justice at the hague for all his crimes against humanity. And while there may be scepticism in some quarters that this will happen remember that the likes of Mladic and Milosevic once thought they were safe to 😉
These monster dictators must face justice in a world court.
These crimes against an independent nation.
Let this be a warning to all imperialist dictators.
When Wales and Scotland become independence we also
need protection against imperialists trying to regain control of our nation
or unlawfully deporting our citizens to their colonial state.
When will the warrants be out for Blair and Bush?
Ah, it’s different for them, as they play with their words better, they call their bombs “democracy Bombs” after all.
And Biden? Trump? Obama? Bush Jnr? The Clintons? Blair? Bolton? Etc. Or is one rule for them, and another for the others? Zelenskyy has been bombing Russian speaking Ukrainians since 2014!!! The west are so adamant about starting WW3. Apparently, Every generation needs to have a Hitler type to fear.
Yawn…no surprise to see members of Putin’s troll army descending on this post spreading the war criminal’s lies. In your disinfo post you seem to have forgotten that it was Russia which illegally invaded ukraine and has since wrecked its infrastructure and slaughtered tens of thousands of ukrainian civilians…oh and kidnapped thousands of ukrainian children and transported them to russia. PS. it’s Putin who seems to want to bring about ‘WW3’ in repeatedly threatening the of use nuclear weapons.
Since when did pointing out that Bush Jr and Blair are war criminals make you a member of Putins troll army?
It can make someone a whatabouterist though.
As in,so Putin’s a war criminal but -what about – those guys twenty years ago.
As you say it doesn’t make someone a member of Putin’s troll army. More like someone following the army with a bucket and shovel clearing up its detritus.
.
In the Days of Gwynfor Evans and Dafydd Wigley it was Plaid Cymru’s policy to withdraw an Independent Wales from NATO.Reading between the lines is there a U-turn in this policy to support the Imperialist agenda of The AUKUS Anglosphere? How ironic that NATO bots always ignore the fact that the war in Ukraine started in 2014 with the Azov Battalion Fascists trying to ethnically cleanse the Donbass of it’s Russian speaking population. The current situation could have easily been avoided but The Government in Ukraine wouldn’t ratify The Minsk agreement’s of 2014 and 2015. Now you won’t see that… Read more »
Stick to the day job Jonnie – with the FSB.
Russia wants ww3, seriously. I suggest you look at the number of US military bases dotted around the globe, they’re only there for the benefit of the US and their arms manufacturers.
And since Western media controls what is reported on, there’s been very little said about the neo nazi groups based in Ukraine
Opps ! The soviet Bots are back 🛑
These folk killed more than Hitler in their Camps …when not trying to destroy 🇪🇪, Estonia Latvia 🇱🇻 and Lithuania 🇱🇹 etc etc
Yes Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and should be tried in the Hague but what about George W Bush & Tony Blair for their illegal invasion of Iraq? Because of 9/11 America in 2003 attacked Iraq even though none of the terrorists who flew planes into the twin towers were Iraqi. Poodle Tony Blair circumnavigated the globe persuading countries to be part of the invasion of Iraq.. Blair stated to the UN & in Westminster how Sadam Hussein had the capability to hit Britain with WMDs in 20mins, and provided evidence with that infamous dossier that turned out to… Read more »
I commend your patience in loading that report onto this page. People above have selective memories, or they are fixated on the default “Putin’s troll” response as it saves them the time to bother constructing a logical response. Fact is that we have accumulated evidence of huge amounts of criminality among a generation of “world leaders”. Rounding them all up would be an admirable mission and Blair, I am told, is often within easy reach. Perhaps his trial could run soon as a warm up for the Putin event.
Seems some suffer from a bit of cognitive dissonance regarding the Russian war with Ukraine. Saying they are or pretending they are for Cymru breaking away from a post imperialist England but also being sympathetic with a Russia attempting to recreate it’s imperialist past by absorbing an independent Ukraine.
Then there’s -it’s not fair to pick on Putin -narrative being promoted, poor misunderstood dab that he is.
Russia has kidnapped over 16,000 Ukrainian children, taken them away from their families and sent to indoctrination camps in Russia’s Far East.
Bush and Blair are also war criminals, but no amount of whataboutisms can ever justify such evil.
Yes there are far-right militias in Ukraine, but Russia has them as well. They need to look at themselves in the mirror before they give themselves the ‘moral right to de-nazify’ other countries.