The International Criminal Court has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of kidnapping Ukrainian children since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo credit: kremlin.ru)
New Delhi: The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday (March 17) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crimes, including the alleged kidnapping of children from Ukraine.
According to a statement released by the ICC, Putin is allegedly responsible for the war crime of “illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”. ‘
The statement said the crimes Putin is accused of have been committed in Ukraine since February 24, 2022 – the day Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Apart from Putin, an arrest warrant has also been issued against Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of Russia on similar charges.
The ICC said its Pre-Trial Chamber found that there were ‘reasonable grounds to believe that each of the suspects was involved in the illegal deportation of the population from the Russian Federation from the territories occupied by Ukraine and the illegal removal of the population in the hope of Ukrainian children’. responsible for war crimes.
However, since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Russia has been denying war crime allegations.
According to international law, certain practices are prohibited even during an armed conflict between the belligerents. These include torture or willful inhuman treatment of persons; widespread destruction and expropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out illegally and arbitrarily; Denying a prisoner of war a fair hearing; Rape and sexual harassment are included. War crimes are listed by international organizations and several global conventions.
