Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since Friday, March 17 on war crimes charges for “deporting” thousands of children to Ukraine, still has little chance of being arrested.
An action with symbolic meaning. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since Friday, March 17 on war crimes charges for “deporting” thousands of children to Ukraine, still has little chance of being arrested.
Russia withdrew its signature from the Rome Statute in 2016, stripping it of its ICC membership, after the court opened an investigation into the 2008 war in Georgia. “Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. From a legal point of view, the decisions of this court are therefore null and void,” said Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday.
A weak threat to Vladimir Putin
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan explained that the 123 member states of the judiciary are obliged to execute arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin whenever they visit their territory.
“Article 8 of the Rome Statute means that this is a serious breach of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This means that Vladimir Putin can be arrested in any country in the world. All countries in the world have ratified the Geneva Conventions, including Russia,” added Andrew Clapham for the Swiss daily Le Temps.
“However, the probability that Vladimir Putin will ever be arrested is slim,” said Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia Law School. In fact, the ICC does not have its own police force and is therefore dependent on the will of states.
Russia launches criminal investigation
Russia announced Monday, March 20, that it would open criminal investigations against the prosecutor and three judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after an arrest warrant was issued for Vladimir Putin.
These judges, including ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, “issued illegal decisions aimed at arresting the President of the Russian Federation and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights,” the Russian investigative committee said in a statement.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is specifically targeted on the grounds that he “committed a criminal proceeding against a notoriously innocent person combined with an unlawful charge of having committed a serious or particularly serious crime”.