New Delhi: The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday, March 17, issued an arrest warrant against Russian President, Vladimir Putin, for alleged war crimes, including the alleged abduction of children from Ukraine.
According to a statement issued by ICC, Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”.
The statement said the crimes – which Putin is accused of – have been committed in Ukraine from February 24, 2022, onwards, the day when Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine.
In addition to Putin, an arrest warrant has also been issued against Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, on similar allegations.
The ICC said its pre-trial chamber had found 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”.
However, Russia has – since the start of the Ukraine war – denied allegations of war crimes.
According to international law, warring parties are prohibited from certain behaviours even during armed conflict. These include torture or wilful inhuman treatment of individuals; extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; depriving a prisoner of war of the fair trail; rape and sexual harassment; among others. A list of war crimes is codified by international organisations and several global conventions.