The Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, confirmed this Monday that, if he comes to Portugal, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be detained under the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Responding to reporters in Brussels, Gomes Cravinho said Portugal “assumes its responsibilities” as one of the 123 signatories to the Rome Statute, which gave birth to the ICC.
“One of their responsibilities is to respond to any arrest warrant,” said the leader of Portuguese diplomacy.
In response to the insistence on whether Putin will be arrested if he comes to Portugal, the minister replied that “yes” and that this is also the national expectation “in relation to the other 122 signatory countries.”
The ICC issued the arrest warrant against Putin, pointing him out as allegedly responsible “for the war crime of deportation of the population (children) and transfer of the population from the occupied areas in Ukraine” by Russia.
Moscow has stated that it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. “We consider legally void any decision of the International Criminal Court that we do not recognize,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.
Source: TSF
