The 123 countries that signed the Rome Statute are obliged to execute arrest warrants against putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia, also the subject of an arrest warrant.
The arrest occurred in the event that one of the two travels to one of these countries.
“It’s true,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told AFP, when asked if putin could be stopped.
But the Court founded after the Rome Statute does not have its own police force.
The execution of the mandates “depends on international cooperation”, according to the president of the ICC, the Polish jurist Piotr Hofmanski.
Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia Law School, stated that this is a “very important stage for the ICC, but the chances that putin be arrested one day are few”.
By way of example, former Sudanese leader Omar al Bashir traveled through several African states, despite the fact that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant against him.
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AFP
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Saturday 03/18/2023 – 07:04 UTC-3
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After the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir on Friday putin for war crimes in Ukraine, the question arises as to whether the Russian president may one day be in the dock in The Hague.
– What is the procedure? –
The 123 countries that signed the Rome Statute are obliged to execute arrest warrants against putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia, also the subject of an arrest warrant.
The arrest occurred in the event that one of the two travels to one of these countries.
“It’s true,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told AFP, when asked if putin could be stopped.
But the Court founded after the Rome Statute does not have its own police force.
The execution of the mandates “depends on international cooperation”, according to the president of the ICC, the Polish jurist Piotr Hofmanski.
Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia Law School, stated that this is a “very important stage for the ICC, but the chances that putin be arrested one day are few”.
By way of example, former Sudanese leader Omar al Bashir traveled through several African states, despite the fact that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant against him.
– What are the obstacles? –
A key issue is that neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC.
The international tribunal can only prosecute now putin because Ukraine accepted the jurisdiction of the CPI in the current context.
Russia has already rejected the arrest warrant and stated that it will not cooperate.
“Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of that court, and therefore, from the point of view of the law, the decisions of that court are null and void,” Russian President Dmitry Peskov’s spokesman said.
It is unlikely that putin go to the dock, “unless there is regime change in Russia,” said Cecily Rose, an associate professor of international law at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Are there precedents? –
Khan stated that there are several political and military leaders who have been tried for war crimes.
“There are many examples of people who thought they were above the law” and who “found themselves in court,” said the ICC chief prosecutor.
The lawyer cited the cases of the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, the Liberian Charles Taylor, Radovan Karadzic or Ratko Mladic.
The ICC convicted Taylor, a former warlord turned Liberian leader, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2012.
Milosevic died in his cell in The Hague in 2006 while on trial for genocide at the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic was eventually captured in 2008 and convicted of genocide by the same court, and his military chief Mladic was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison.
Related note: Arrest warrant issued for Vladimir Putin
– Are there other options? –
The ICC cannot try suspects in absentia. But Khan explained that the court has other methods to advance the cases.
An example is the hearing held to confirm the charges against Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, who launched a bloody insurgency in Uganda, despite the fact that the defendant is at large.
