(Ottawa) The International Criminal Court has not engaged in a battle it could not fight by issuing an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was argued by his prosecutor Karim Khan on Friday during his first official visit to Canada.
“I understand why some say it’s an impossible mission, but people also thought it would be impossible to indict or even arrest ex-President Milosevic,” he replied at a press conference.
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic died in his cell at The Hague detention center in 2006. He was facing charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The legal proceedings had then been going on since 2002.
PHOTO MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Russian President Vladimir Putin
“So we are doing our job and the international community should be doing theirs,” he continued. This moment is a decisive test. Are we satisfied with fine words or do we want to act collectively in 2023 to eliminate these crimes of international concern. »
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 17 and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for “the war crime of illegal deportation” of Ukrainian children since the invasion of Russia which began in February 2022.
The international press underlined this first since the Court had never issued an arrest warrant against a head of State in office and whose country is a member of the Security Council of the United Nations Organization (UN).
However, this arrest warrant is likely to be difficult to apply. South Africa, which will host the BRICS summit in August, seems reluctant to arrest Mr Putin if he decides to attend. Its president Cyril Ramaphosa had indicated that South Africa could rather leave the International Criminal Court before changing its mind.
Mr. Khan said he was confident that the country of Nelson Mandela, which overcame “the terrible crime of apartheid” will realize “what it means to suffer, to lose one’s rights, to be subjugated” and will apply the law.