Human Rights Watch (HRW) ruled on Friday that the arrest warrant issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) “first step towards ending impunity” for war crimes in Ukraine.
“This is an important day for many victims of crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine since 2014,” Balkees Jarrah, deputy director of international justice at the human rights organization, said in a statement.
BREAKING: International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alexeyevna Lvova-Belova.
The ICC has made Putin a wanted man and has taken its first step towards ending the impunity that has encouraged perpetrators in Russia’s war against Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/28G6UKr5Ia
– Human Rights Watch (@hrw) March 17, 2023
For Jarrah, this arrest warrant is “the first step toward ending the impunity that has so long encouraged criminals in Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
For HRW, the ICC decision “is a clear message that issuing orders to commit or authorize serious crimes against civilians can lead to a cell in The Hague”.
Today, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges for his alleged involvement in child abductions in Ukraine.
In a statement, the ICC accuses Putin of being “allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) from occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation on similar charges.
Source: DN
