ICC urges world to have ‘stamina’ to hold Putin accountable; impart justice to Kyiv

The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) who issued the arrest warrant against Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Monday noted that the world needs to “have the stamina” to enforce international law by holding accountable those in power who breach protocols and commit war crimes. Karim Khan, in a speech made just four days after Putin's warrant, noted that Russia's leader must be brought to justice for the war crimes his troops ensue in neighbouring Ukraine. He was speaking alongside Ukraine’s Justice Minister, Denys Maliuska, and its prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin on Monday. 

ICC asks Russia to deport kids back to Ukraine

The latter ordered Kremlin to deport the Ukrainian children allegedly abducted to Russia back to their homes. ICC, other than the Russian President, also issued an arrest warrant against Russia’s children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, alleging that she was responsible for the coerced transfer of the Ukrainian kids to Moscow. Khan submitted the applications to Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court for warrants of arrest against Russian entities on February 22, 2023, based on what he says is "evidence collected and analysed by my Office pursuant to its independent investigations," according to his statement published by ICC.

Khan stressed that the Pre-Trial Chamber confirmed that it found "reasonable grounds" to believe that President Putin and Lvova-Belova "bear criminal responsibility" for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. Children were also taken from orphanages and care homes, he claimed. It is to be noted that due to the war, Ukrainian children are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention of the UN. 

“This is a moment of crisis,” Khan said. “I don’t think that is hyperbole, we need to have the stamina to deliver on justice.”

Khan claimed that he made an in-person visit to Ukraine to take stock of the situation. "I visited one of the care homes from which children were allegedly taken, close to the current frontlines of the conflict. The accounts of those who had cared for these children, and their fears as to what had become of them, underlined the urgent need for action," he said in the ICC statement. The prosecutor reiterated that all Ukrainian children must be returned to their families and communities and that those responsible for alleged crimes are held accountable. 

Russia responded to the ICC's warrant against Putin with irk, as Deputy Premier Dmitry Medvedev, in an angst-laden tone threatened that he will target the western biased The Hague. In a message shared by the pro-Kremlin outlets, he asked the court to "look carefully at the sky" and threatened to nuke the judges. Russia claimed that ICC has no power to so-called prosecute Putin and the Children's Ombudsman since Moscow is not a signatory to the Rome statute. It also argued that Russian forces evacuated children and were not "deported" from the war-inflicted regions as if it had not been carried out, "children and civilians would have been in mortal danger."