Russia included the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khanon the list of people “wanted” by justice, two months after that court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Date of birth: March 30, 1970. Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland (…) Wanted under an article of the Criminal Code”, indicates the announcement published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, consulted on Friday by the news agency AFPwithout specifying the nature of the crime with which he is charged.
The Hague-based ICC issued in March an arrest warrant against Putin for the illegal deportation of thousands of children of areas of Ukraine under Russian control in the context of the conflict with this former Soviet republic.
This accusation, comparable to war crimes, was rejected by the Russian government, which denounced a legally “null” decision.
Just a few days after the arrest warrant was issued, in mid-March, Russian justice opened a criminal investigation against Karim Khan and three other ICC judges.
According to the investigation, Khan is accused of having “brought criminal charges against a notoriously innocent person” and of “preparing an attack against a representative of a foreign State”.
Earlier, the chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexandr Bastrikin, announced that the other CPI judges linked to Putin’s arrest warrant would also be wanted: Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and the Costa Rican Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godínez.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant on March 17 for Putin as “suspected” of the illegal deportation of children and their transfer from occupied areas in Ukraine to Russia, which constitutes a war crime.
The Investigative Committee of Russia (CIR) accuses Khan of taking an “illegal decision on the arrest of the President of the Russian Federation” and the Ombudsman for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
According to said body, the prosecutor’s actions contain indications of crimes contemplated by the Russian criminal code, among other things, for taking measures against the representative of a State protected by international norms “in order to hinder international relations.”
It stresses that, according to international conventions, heads of state have “absolute immunity” from the jurisdiction of other countries.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrovlast week accused the ICC of being “an obedient tool” in the hands of Anglo-Saxon countries and that it never contributed to the settlement of conflicts, but to their aggravation.
“This authentic pseudo-court, turned into an obedient tool in the hands of the Anglo-Saxons, continues to demonstrate political bias, inefficiency and lack of professionalism,” Lavrov said during his speech at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.
Lavrov stressed that when it had to intervene in a regional problem, the court in The Hague “never contributed to the political settlement of conflicts, but simply aggravated them.”
(With information from AFP and EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com