London, March 18 (EFE).- The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia is a step towards Justice for victims of war crimes in Ukraine, he said. the organization Amnesty International (AI).
The ICC issued this order on Friday against Putin and against Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of Russia, who faces the same accusation.
AI Secretary General Agnès Callamard said the order is “an important signal” both to Ukraine and to the rest of the world that suspected perpetrators of crimes in Ukraine “will be arrested and prosecuted” regardless of power. that they have
“President Putin is now officially a wanted man. Following the ICC indictment of President Putin and Children’s Commissioner Lvova-Belova for the war crime of forcibly transferring children, the international community should stop at nothing until they are arrested and brought to trial,” Callamard added in a statement released by the humanitarian organization.
“If President Putin or Lvova-Belova leave Russia, states must deny them a safe haven by immediately arresting them and handing them over to the ICC,” he said.
The AI secretary general stressed that these warrants represent “an important first step”, and hoped that the ICC and other judicial actors will issue more arrest warrants as their investigations into crimes in Ukraine yield results.
AI recalls that in November 2022 it published a report documenting the forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian civilians, including children, by Russian forces to Russia.
The organization noted that this amounted to war crimes and likely crimes against humanity. EFE
