The Moscow City Court on Friday sentenced several officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to long prison sentences. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison, with nine to be served in prison and the rest in a prison camp for serious criminals, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on Friday. TASR informs about it according to the report of the DPA agency.
- The Moscow City Court sentenced several ICC officials to prison.
- The ICC’s chief prosecutor was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- The Russian punishment is related to the arrest warrants for Putin and the ombudsman.
- The ICC investigates serious international crimes that Russia does not recognize.
- ICC decisions in Russia remain without significant effect.
Khan was found guilty by a court in Moscow of ordering the issuance of “knowingly illegal arrest warrants against Russian citizens”.
Long-term consequences for ICC
Since Khan is not in Russia, the verdict is expected to remain largely without consequence for now.
Khan temporarily stepped down from his post at the ICC in May amid an investigation into alleged sexual assaults. He will remain out of office until the investigation into the allegations, which he himself denies, is completed.
Another eight judges of the ICC received prison sentences ranging from 3.5 to 15 years, the DPA agency reported, writes TASR. The Russian Investigative Committee said that ICC judges Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godínez and Haykel Ben Mahfoud, as well as ICC President Piotr Józef Hofmaňski and his deputies Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, Bertram Schmitt and Reine Adélaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou were convicted.
Controversial ICC arrest warrants
These are ICC judges who participated in issuing arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvovova-Belovova, according to the announcement of the Russian prosecutor’s office.
The Interfax agency added that the arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belovova were issued in March 2023 by the ICC pre-trial chamber as part of the war crime investigation – the illegal deportation of children from the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. Russia describes this action as an evacuation.
Russian prosecution of ICC judges
In response to the ICC decision, on March 20, 2023, the Russian Investigative Committee began criminal proceedings against the ICC judges who issued the arrest warrants. All convicted ICC prosecutors and judges were also declared internationally wanted persons in Russia in 2023. However, the international police organization Interpol refused to declare a search for them.
The ICC prosecutes suspects for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression. Russia is not a state party to the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction.
