Will Putin be put in solitary confinement after an international court issues a war crimes warrant?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant warbellow Russia president Vladimir Putin accused him of war crimes for personal responsibility for the abduction of children from the United States. Ukraine.

World leaders have been indicted before, but this is the first time an independent international organization has issued a warrant against the leader of one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. .

first issue warUkrainian war rants demanded by court PutinArrests on suspicion of illegal deportation of children and illegal deportation of people from Ukrainian territory to Russia.

A court in The Hague, Netherlands, has also issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Alekseevna Livova Belova, on similar charges.

Russia, which is not a party to the court, said the move was pointless. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its troops committed atrocities during its invasion of neighboring countries. This was hailed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough.

Founded in 2002, the ICC, with 123 member states, war crimes, crimehumanity, genocide, and crime Attacks where Member States are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.a war crime Investigations can focus on soldiers, commanders, and heads of state.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, and Moscow does not recognize courts. However, Ukraine has authorized an investigation into alleged atrocities on its territory dating back to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has made four visits since starting the investigation a year ago.

defined by the ICC war crime as a “serious violation” of the post-Second World it was Geneva Conventions, agreements governing international humanitarian law to be observed war time.

Compromises may deliberately target civilians or attack legitimate military targets, resulting in “excessive” civilian casualties, legal experts say.

The ICC conducts 17 surveys, ranging from African countries such as Ukraine, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya, to Venezuela in Central and South America, and Asian countries such as Myanmar and the Philippines.

The ICC has convicted five men. war crimesand crimeAll African militia leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Uganda against humanity. His sentence is from 9 years to 30 years for him. The highest possible term is life imprisonment.

arrest warbellow Putin Lvova-Belova theoreticallywarRev. Final Trial. Courts do not have their own police force to pursue suspects, so it is up to the international community to enforce them.

“The ICC acts as a court of law. Judges have issued arrest warrants. Enforcement depends on international cooperation,” said the court’s president, Piotr Hofmansky.

The Tribunal is supported by many United Nations member states and the European Union, but not by other large powers, including the United States and Russia.

In a statement, the court said Putin was “accounted for the war crime of illegal deportation (of children) and the war crime of illegal transfer of (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. there are,” he said.

The accusations are specific because the likelihood of a conviction is high. According to Ukrainian government statistics, the number of children forcibly brought to Russia is her 16,221.

After his most recent visit, in early March, ICC prosecutor Khan said he visited an orphanage about a mile from the front line in southern Ukraine.

“The paintings on the walls spoke of the context of love and support that was once there. The house was empty because they were illegally transported to the area,” he said in a statement.

It could be just the beginning of a wave of indictments.President of Ukraine Volodymyr ZelenskyThe president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the arrest warrant issued for Putin was “just the beginning”.

More than 74,500 cases of atrocities have been reported in Ukraine since Russia invaded, according to the Kiev Prosecutor General’s Office.

Ukrainian and Western authorities say there is evidence of murders and executions, shelling of civilian infrastructure, forced deportations, child abductions, torture, sexual violence and illegal detention.

The bombing of theaters and maternity hospitals in Mariupol war crime.

it was crimeIt could also be prosecuted in Ukraine’s own courts, and more countries are conducting their own investigations. Many states, mainly in Europe, have universal jurisdiction laws that can also prosecute Ukrainians. war crimeseconds.

The European Union recently announced the creation of an International Center for the Prosecution of “Aggression” in Ukraine. It is under Eurojust, the European prosecutor’s office, also in The Hague. This could eventually form the basis of a new court.

In addition, the UN Commission collects and documents violations of international humanitarian law and reflects them in the evidence collected and shared by Eurojust. This may also support cases taken by the ICC.

The chances of a Russian being tried at the ICC remain extremely low.Moscow almost certainly won’t respond to arrests because it doesn’t recognize court jurisdiction warThat means the arrest and arraignment of the Russian president is highly unlikely.

Even if it did, ICC cases to date have shown that it is difficult to convict top officials. Over 20 years, courts have only handed him five convictions on the crux. crimes, and none were the highest officials.

Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, the first former head of state to appear before the ICC, was acquitted of all charges in 2019 after a three-year trial. The most likely fugitive is former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, who was wanted for the genocide in Darfur.

However, there is precedent for convictions, albeit under separate courts. crime happened in the Balkans wasIt issued 161 indictments and sentenced 90 people.

A year later, the United Nations set up the International War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda to try those responsible for the genocide. crime In 1994, he committed crimes in the state and neighboring states. It prosecuted 93 people and sentenced 62.

Member states are obliged to arrest him, so an arrest warrant could prevent Putin from traveling around the world and undermine his status within the country. On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment when asked whether the president would avoid visiting countries where he could be arrested on ICC warrants.

Some say the ICC’s action will act as a deterrent and have a significant impact on the justice of Ukrainians.

“The ICC has put Putin on the wanted list and is the first to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in the Russia-Ukraine war for too long,” said Barquiz Jarrah, deputy director of international justice at Human Rights Watch. I took a step.

“The warrant sends a clear message that issuing orders to commit or condone serious crimes against civilians can lead to solitary confinement in The Hague.”

Professor David Crane, who indicted Liberia’s President Charles Taylor for crimes in Sierra Leone two decades ago, said dictators and tyrants around the world should “hold international crimes to account, including heads of state.” I realize now what’s going to happen,” he said.

Taylor was eventually detained and tried in a Dutch special court. He was found guilty and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

“Today is an important day for justice and for the people of Ukraine,” Crane told The Associated Press.