Russia issues arrest warrant against ICC judges in retaliatory move

In a retaliatory move against the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing an arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin, Moscow has included several Hague judges including President Piotr Józef Hofmański to its wanted list. ICC's Hofmański, his deputy, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, and Judge Bertram Schmitt are "wanted under the Criminal Code," independent Russian news outlet MediaZona reported.

Without elaborating on the charges, the Russian interior ministry said on its website: "Hofmański Józef Jozef, Polish. Wanted under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation." ICC Judge Tomoko Akane, Prosecutor Karim Khan and scores of other judges had an arrest warrant issued against them by the Kremlin. Akane was put on Russia's wanted list in late July, while Khan was put on the list in May. The Hague-based ICC, at the time, had condemned Russia's move, saying that it was "profoundly concerned about unwarranted and unjustified coercive measures reportedly taken against ICC officials."

Russia not signatory of 'Rome Statute'

In March, the ICC in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged 'abduction' of Ukrainian children. An arrest warrant was also issued against Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the Russian President for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine. According to ICC, the crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian-occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022 when Russia's Putin ordered what he calls a "special military operation." The warrants were hailed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "historic decision."

Russia's Foreign Ministry, at the time, had trashed the warrants saying that even as Russia was one of the signatories to the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding document, it never agreed to the treaty. In 2016, the Kremlin officially withdrew from it, so whatever the court claims or does is null and void in Russia. At least 123 states are the signatories to the Rome Statute and as many as 41 countries have not ratified the agreement, including China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Meanwhile, Russia, Israel, Sudan, and the US are not party to the agreement.