Russia adds British prosecutor on ‘wanted list’ after ICC warrant against Putin

Moscow [Russia], May 21 (ANI): Two months after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia has put Karim Khan, a British prosecutor at the Hague-based court, on its “wanted” list, reported Politico, a German-owned political newspaper based in the US.

In March this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian official Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova in connection with an alleged conspiracy to deport Ukrainian minors to Russia.

The ICC held Putin “responsible for war crimes” committed by Russian forces in Ukraine during the war that has been ongoing for over a year.

Apparently, Khan’s photograph and personal details were visible in the Russian Interior Ministry’s database, where he is labelled as “wanted on felony charges,” Politico reported citing Russian independent media outlet Mediazona on Friday.

Russia initiated criminal proceedings against Khan and three ICC judges in March on the grounds that they had committed “signs of crimes” under Russian law.

This includes, in Khan’s instance, knowingly accusing an innocent individual of a crime and, in the judges’ cases, intentionally wrongful imprisonment, Politico reported.

In March, the Hague-based court said in a statement that 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.”

It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights in the office of the president of the Russian Federation on similar allegations, according to Al Jazeera.

The UN genocide convention defines “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” as one of five acts that can be prosecuted as genocide.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has severed ties with several prominent international organisations, deepening the country’s isolation from the West.

Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe, the continent’s premier human rights watchdog, in March of last year for its invasion of Ukraine.