Putin arrest warrant will stand even if US-led peace talks agree Ukraine amnesty, ICC prosecutors say
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
International Criminal Court prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan (left) and Mame Mandiaye Niang giving an interview to Reuters at the ICC in the Netherlands, on Dec 5.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- ICC prosecutors stated arrest warrants for Putin and other Russians will remain, regardless of US-led peace talks or a blanket amnesty.
- A UN Security Council resolution would be needed to suspend the warrants, as the ICC is obligated to observe its statute.
- Ukraine rejects blanket amnesty for war crimes, echoing that it's impossible to grant impunity for mass atrocities committed.
AI generated
THE HAGUE - International Criminal Court arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and five other Russians accused of war crimes in Ukraine will stay in place even if a blanket amnesty is approved during US-led peace talks, ICC prosecutors said on Dec 5.
Deputy prosecutors Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal and Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, who have been responsible for investigations at the court since the chief prosecutor went on leave, said a United Nations Security Council resolution would be required to suspend court-issued warrants.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader
Mr Putin and Russian Child Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova face allegations of illegally deporting hundreds of children
Russia rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction and has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes.
Among other high-profile Russian suspects sought by the International Criminal Court are former Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian general Valery Gerasimov, who are wanted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity for attacks on civilians.
“If there is a peace deal which then leads the Security Council to ask us to defer an investigation, then that’s a matter - that’s a political process for the Security Council. But as far as we’re concerned... at the end of the day, it does not stop the way that justice is delivered," deputy prosecutor Khan said, citing the court’s founding Rome Statute.
An early 28-point US draft peace proposal
Deputy prosecutor Niang said that “apart from the bracket we mentioned in respect of the Security Council route, we are obligated to observe our statute, which does not give weight to some of those political arrangements”.
Ukraine rejects blanket amnesty
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Mr Andriy Kostin, who previously served as its prosecutor-general, dismissed the idea of a blanket amnesty.
“...With such mass atrocities committed in the course of these years, it’s impossible to grant impunity for all those responsible, all those who committed these crimes and who ordered the commission of these crimes,” he told Reuters.
The ICC, the world’s permanent court for war crimes, has 125 member countries. Some of the world’s leading powers - Russia, China and the United States - are either not members or openly oppose it. REUTERS
