Before Russian President Vladimir Putin, against whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Friday that it had issued an international arrest warrant, several heads of state or political leaders have been wanted by the ICC since its creation in 2002. All n were not arrested.
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Here is a reminder of these main personalities:
Joseph KONY
Leader of the Ugandan rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), he has been targeted since 2005 by an arrest warrant from the ICC. He is charged with 12 counts of crimes against humanity, including sexual slavery and enslavement, as well as 21 counts of war crimes. He was never arrested and is still at large.
Thomas LUBANGA
Arrested in March 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he was transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He is the first individual to be indicted by the ICC, charged with war crimes.
Sentenced in 2012 to 14 years in prison for the recruitment of child soldiers during the conflict in the DRC, he was released in March 2020, the duration of his detention running from the date of his arrest.
Jean-Pierre BEMBA
Former vice-president of the DRC, he was imprisoned by the ICC in 2008 for almost ten years. Tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by her militia in the Central African Republic (October 2002-March 2003) where she had come to support the troops of Ange-Félix Patassé, in the face of a rebellion by François Bozizé. He was acquitted in June 2018 on appeal by the ICC.
Omar EL-BECHIR
In March 2009, the Sudanese Omar el-Béchir became the first head of state in office to be targeted by an arrest warrant from the ICC for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” in Darfur. On July 12, 2010, he was prosecuted for “genocide”.
Two years after his arrest and dismissal in 2019, Sudan announced in August 2021 that it would hand over the ex-president to the ICC. Announcement remained a dead letter so far.
Laurent Gbagbo
After the 2010 presidential election, Laurent Gbagbo, president of Côte d’Ivoire since 2000, refuses to admit defeat to Alassane Ouattara. The ensuing chaos leads to the death of 3,000 people.
The ICC issues an arrest warrant against him in November 2011. The former president is transferred to the detention center in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity.
Acquitted after a three-year trial, he was released in February 2019 but placed under house arrest in Europe. In March 2021, the ICC definitively confirms his acquittal, which allows him to return to Côte d’Ivoire.
His wife Simone was also for a time the subject of an international arrest warrant from the ICC.
Arrested on November 19, 2011 in Libya, Seif al-Islam, son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been the subject of an arrest warrant since June 27, 2011 for crimes against humanity committed during the repression of the popular revolt which had turned into an armed conflict and had caused the fall and then the death of Colonel Gaddafi. Seif al-Islam is believed to be on the run as he is being held at an unknown location by the Libyan authorities. His release has been announced several times but confusion reigns over his fate to this day.
His father had also been targeted, but the case was closed following his death in October 2011.
Uhuru KENYATTA
Indicted in 2012 by the ICC for crimes against humanity committed during the post-election violence following the 2007 Kenyan presidential election, he was elected President of Kenya the following year.
He surrendered in October 2014 to the ICC summons for a hearing on a possible further postponement of his trial for crimes against humanity, becoming the first sitting head of state to appear before the International Criminal Court. But the ICC dropped the charges in December for lack of evidence.
Other leaders have been sentenced by other special courts:
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor, main actor in the first civil war in Liberia (1989-1997), involved in the Sierra Leonean civil war, was sentenced in 2012 by the Special Court for Sierra Leone to 50 years in prison for crimes against the humanity and war crimes, becoming the first former head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg trials (1945-1946).
Slobodan MILOSEVIC
Former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, arrested in 2001, died in 2006 during his trial in The Hague before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.