Three days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, defended the ruling on Monday as a “Nuremberg crime” and called for “strength” from countries that support the court and have ultimate responsibility for its implementation. on the execution of decisions. Court investigators have been on the ground for months and, according to the United Nations, there is already documentary evidence of murders, rapes, robberies, child abductions and forced deportations by Russian soldiers.
Khan participated in the Justice Ministers’ Conference held in London, organized by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, which brought together 40 countries from around the world. The meeting sought to commit more money so that the court could reach the annual budget that was planned (it has 169 million for 2023, although it calculated that it needed 175).
“This is a moment of crisis… we need force to do justice,” Khan said, referring to war crimes being investigated by various judicial teams and other forensic experts since the exhumation of Bucha’s grave, one of the first massacres. Russian soldiers spotted it last year. “We oppose actions that are considered criminal after Nuremberg,” he said judgments against the Nazi leaders who were in this German city in 1945-1946. “We are showing those who need it that the law gives them shelter even when their bombs are destroyed, causing enormous destruction.”
On Friday, a court issued an international arrest warrant for Putin and his children’s adviser, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the forced deportation of minors from Ukraine to Russia, one of the issues being investigated by international prosecutors.
“This is the moment when we must realize that if we do not follow the law, we will have nothing to hold on to in the future,” Khan said, asking Putin to return Ukrainian children sent to Russia. using force, as documented by the court, the United Nations and international human rights organizations. “Anyone who says this is a humanitarian evacuation, the evidence tells a different story and the judges have said so,” said the prosecutor, who stressed that the order comes after a “fact-based apolitical investigation.”
He also spoke about the severity felt by the court: “This is not the time to pat yourself on the back. It is very sad and regrettable that for the first time the judges of the International Criminal Court have found it necessary to issue an order against the leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and government officials.” Russia responded Opening a “criminal” investigation against the judges and the prosecutor The International Court of Justice and former President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to bomb the Hague court.
How to execute an order
The court, with a team of 900 lawyers and other staff, has neither the police nor other forces to enforce Putin’s arrest warrant, which now depends on the affected country surrendering — as Serbia has done with leaders accused of war crimes — or being arrested. TERRITORY OF OTHER COUNTRIES ACCEPTING THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT. Thus, the court remanded 21 people Among the 31 cases it has heard since its creation in 2002, the majority are for war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Mali and Sudan, often at the initiative of the governments of those countries. Regardless of who signed up to create the court, the question is whether the country accepts the court’s jurisdiction. The International Criminal Court also has a An open inquiry into Palestine and says that has jurisdiction in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem because the Palestinians accepted it through the UN (Israel signed but did not ratify the creation of the court).
Putin is invited to a summit of developing countries in August in South Africa, and the country’s government, which is part of the court, has already said that aware of his “legal obligations”. However, South Africa did not arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country in 2015, despite a court order for his arrest. The judges of the court decided Then don’t give up for non-cooperation against South Africa.
The court is the first permanent international tribunal to deal with war crimes under the Rome Statute. Adopted by 123 countries Among which there is neither Russia nor the United States (Ukraine has not ratified, but has signed and Receives the jurisdiction of the court in its territory since 2013).
The court hears crimes in Ukraine as part of its mandate, and its decision-making is independent after cases are submitted by member states and without prejudice to what domestic courts may do. However, the debate about the advisability of creating a court is still ongoing ad hoc To investigate and prosecute crimes committed in Ukraine, as in the case of the former Yugoslavia and as supported by some European leaders.
Source: El Diario
