International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine

The International Criminal Court (ICC) at Hague in Netherlands on Friday issued arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes against children in Ukraine..A press release by the ICC said that Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC has issued warrants of arrest for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Child Rights in Russia.The press release further stated that Putin is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children and that of unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from February 24, 2022."There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute)," the ICC release said.Similar finding was made with respect to Maria Lvova-Belova as well."Pre-Trial Chamber II considered, based on the Prosecution’s applications of 22 February 2023, that there are 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," the ICC statement stated.The Chamber considered that the warrants are usually secret in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation. ."Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber," it was stated..The warrants were issued pursuant to the applications submitted by ICC prosecutor Karim AA Khan KC (King's Counsel)."On the basis of evidence collected and analysed by my Office pursuant to its independent investigations, the Pre-Trial Chamber has confirmed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that President Putin and Ms Lvova-Belova bear criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, contrary to article 8(2)(a)(vii) and article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute," a press statement by Khan said.Kha's statement further stated that his office identified deportation of hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children’s care homes."Many of these children, we allege, have since been given for adoption in the Russian Federation. The law was changed in the Russian Federation, through Presidential decrees issued by President Putin, to expedite the conferral of Russian citizenship, making it easier for them to be adopted by Russian families," Khan said.