ICC's arrest warrant for Putin to be effective in Germany

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Mar 2023 14:31

Germany rushes to adopt the ICC's arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann addresses the media during a news conference on key points of the capital markets modernization law, in Berlin, Germany June 29, 2022. (Reuters)

Germany announced that the ICC's arrest warrant against Putin will be in effect in the country.

"I expect the ICC to quickly contact Interpol and member states and request [the warrant's] enforcement," German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann was quoted as saying by the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

This comes after the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber II reported on Friday that it issued arrest warrants against Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights.

It accused President Putin for being responsible for the alleged "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children, and also issued a warrant against Lvova-Belova on similar charges.

At the time, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the International Criminal Court's decision to "arrest" Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova was legally irrelevant to Russia.

"The decisions of the ICC have no significance for our country, including from a legal point of view," Zakharova wrote on Telegram, while noting that Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC and has no obligations under it.

On his account, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov further condemned the decision, saying the formulation of an "arrest warrant" issued against the Russian head of State is unacceptable, that Russia does not recognize ICC jurisdiction, and any of its decisions are null and void from the legal point of view.

"We consider the very formulation of the question outrageous and unacceptable. Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and, accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for the Russian Federation from the legal point of view," Peskov said.

Since its inception, the ICC has often been biased as far as the investigation of crimes and the prosecution of individuals is concerned.

The West, led by the US, has orchestrated wars all across the Global South that have caused millions of children to go hungry, malnourished, displaced, and even killed, including in Yemen where the US-led blockade has caused over two million children to suffer from acute malnutrition.

Yet, these issues have never been taken into consideration at the Hague-based ICC.