The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, says that it is quite possible to try Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing a number of examples of war criminals such as Slobodan Milosevic, Ratko Mladic, Charles Taylor, who were tried for their crimes and convicted, according to CNN.

“I think those who think it’s impossible don’t understand history because the great Nazi war criminals (former Yugoslav president Slobodan) Milosevic, (former Bosnian Serb politician Radovan) Karadzic (former Bosnian Serb military officer Ratko) Mladic, former president Liberia’s Charles Taylor, (former prime minister), Rwanda’s Jean Kambanda, Ghisen Habré (former president of Chad) were powerful and influential men and yet they found themselves in courtrooms judged by independent judges. And it also gives reason to hope that the law, however difficult it may be, can be higher,” Khan said.

The International Criminal Court on Friday issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

“I think the message should be that the basic principles of humanity unite everyone together. And no one should feel like an exception. No one should feel that they can act without restraint, and certainly no one should feel that they can act and commit genocide or crimes against humanity or war crimes with impunity,” Khan said.

Earlier, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said that immediately after the ICC issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, this is the first concrete step, while other investigations in Ukraine are ongoing, Reuters reports.

Putin is the third sitting president to receive an ICC arrest warrant, following Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

The decision of the criminal court, explained by a lawyer

His forces have been repeatedly accused of abuses during the invasion of Ukraine, including by a UN-mandated investigative body that described this week how soldiers forced children to watch Russians rape their loved ones.

Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations that its forces committed atrocities during the invasion, which it calls a special military operation.

While Putin is unlikely to stand trial any time soon, the warrant means he could be arrested and sent to The Hague if he travels to any ICC member state.

In addition, “If the state on whose territory a war criminal is hiding is not a party to the Statute of the International Criminal Court, this does not mean that it cannot at some point become or extradite a war criminal who is hiding on its territory,” says Rezvan Horaciu Radu, former the Romanian government agent at the ECtHR and the European Court of Justice, who explained to Hotnews.ro the meaning of the Criminal Court’s decision.

He also says that “in the history of the International Criminal Court, there are cases of arrest warrants being issued in the absence of persons who later become available to the Court.”

“There are situations when people are handed over to other international criminal courts – for example, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,” emphasizes Rezvan Horaciu Radu

At the same time, “although Russia and Ukraine are not signatories of the Rome Statute, Ukraine twice recognized the Court’s jurisdiction over war crimes committed on its territory. This aspect brings to the jurisdiction of the Court war crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine, regardless of who is their author.”

• Will Putin end up in handcuffs? What does the decision of the International Criminal Court mean – explanation of a lawyer

The first reactions of Moscow and Kyiv

• In the first reaction from Moscow, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, stated on her Telegram channel: “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no significance for our country, including from a legal point of view.”

“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and has no obligations under it.”

• Ukraine talks about a historic decision, but this is “only the beginning.”

High-ranking officials of Ukraine highly praised the decision of the International Court of Justice, and the Prosecutor General of the country Andriy Kostin called it “a historic decision for Ukraine and the entire system of international law.”

The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said that the issuance of the mandate is “just the beginning.”

• What does Maria Lvova-Belova say about the ICC arrest warrant in her name

What is the Rome Statute?

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (often called the Statute of the International Criminal Court or the Rome Statute) is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome on July 17, 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002. The International Tribunal is responsible for four main crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia were parties to the Rome Statute and did not ratify its founding text.

Russia signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but never ratified it to become a member of the ICC, and finally withdrew its signature in 2016.

At the time, Russia was under international pressure over its seizure and unilateral annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as a campaign of airstrikes in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s war against rebels.

The arrest warrant would oblige the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and hand him over to The Hague for trial if he enters their territory.

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