German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday welcomed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it showed that “no one is above the law,” Reuters reported.

On Friday, the ICC called for the arrest of Putin, who is suspected of illegally deporting children and illegally moving people from Ukraine to Russia after Moscow launched its invasion last year.

“The International Criminal Court is the right institution to investigate war crimes… The truth is that no one is above the law, and that is now becoming clear,” Scholz said at a joint news conference in Tokyo with the Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida.

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

Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations that its forces committed atrocities during the invasion of Ukraine.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on suspicion of illegal deportation of children and illegal transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the court is expected to issue warrants, the first in an investigation into the conflict in Ukraine.

Separately, the court issued warrants for Maria Lviv-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, on the same charges.

What is the decision of the International Criminal Court about?

• “Mr. Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Putin, born on October 7, 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of the population (children) and illegal transfer of the population (children) from the occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (in accordance with Articles 8(2) (a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed on the occupied territory of Ukraine at least as of February 24, 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the above crimes (i) because he acted directly with others and/or through others (Article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute) and (ii) because his failure to exercise adequate control over the civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts or permitted them to be committed and who were under his authority and effective control in accordance with the responsibility of the superior (Article 28 (b) of the Rome Statute).
• Mrs. Maria Oleksiivna Lviva-Belova, born on October 25, 1984, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of the population (children) and illegal displacement of the population. (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (in accordance with Articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed on the occupied Ukrainian territory at least since February 24, 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Ms. Lvivova-Belova bears individual criminal responsibility for the above-mentioned crimes, since she committed these actions directly, together with others and/or through others (Article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute).
• The second chamber of preliminary proceedings, on the basis of the requests of the prosecutor’s office dated February 22, 2023, recognized that there are good reasons to believe that each suspect is involved in the war crime of illegal deportation of the population and illegal transfer of the population from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, to the detriment of Ukrainian children. the ICC said in a statement.

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 ICC cannot judge in absentia

The New York Times also reported, citing current and former officials with knowledge of the decision, that an ICC prosecutor is expected to ask a judge to approve warrants for several Russians they accuse of abducting children and teenagers in Ukraine and sending them them to re-education camps in Russia and the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the source said on condition of anonymity.

According to the Guardian, a judge or panel had to decide whether the legal standards for issuing arrest warrants had been met or whether investigators needed more evidence.

It was unclear at the time who the court planned to indict in each case, but diplomats and experts said at the time that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the most likely to be indicted because the ICC does not grant immunity on any count states during the war. cases of crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.

However, according to some experts, the likelihood of a trial remains low, given that the ICC cannot judge in absentia, and Russia is unlikely to extradite its officials.

Last March, Radio Europa Liberă wrote that, although neither Ukraine nor Russia are parties to the Rome Statute, under the current circumstances there may be a legal way: the ICC has jurisdiction over this situation, as Ukraine has made a statement under Article 12. (3 ) The Statute of the ICC gives the jurisdiction of the Court after the annexation of Crimea by Moscow.

However, even if jurisdiction were to apply, the most difficult task would be to bring Putin to justice. The ICC does not try defendants in absentia, therefore, even after issuing a warrant for Putin’s arrest, the trial could not begin without him.

The first case, according to some knowledgeable officials, involves kidnappings widely covered in the press, about the abduction of Ukrainian children, from toddlers to teenagers.

Under the Kremlin-backed program, they were taken out of Ukraine and placed in housing to obtain Russian citizenship or sent to re-education camps, according to the NYT and researchers.

Some of them come from orphanages or households.

Moscow presents this program as a humanitarian mission to protect Ukrainian children who were orphaned and abandoned during the war.

Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, a spokeswoman for the program, began sending children to Russia weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February 2022 and regularly appears on television to promote adoption.

In May, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on accelerating the acquisition of Russian citizenship by Ukrainians.

Karim Khan publicly announced his intention to open this case, stressing that the illegal transfer of children to Russia or the occupied territories of Ukraine is a priority of his investigations.

This month he visited a now-empty “orphanage” in southern Ukraine, and his office released a photo of him sitting among empty beds.

“You can’t treat children as war booty,” he condemned after this visit.

According to a report released in February by Yale University and the US State Department’s Conflict Monitor program, at least 6,000 children from Ukraine are being held in 43 camps in Russia, and the real number is believed to be higher.

The National Intelligence Service of the Government of Ukraine estimated that at the beginning of March, there will be more than 16,000 children.

“There’s been a lot of attention on this issue, and prosecuting it as a crime will cause a lot of backlash,” said Mark Ellis, head of the International Bar Association.

“Forcibly transporting civilians across the border is prohibited, and in times of war it can be a war crime. It can also constitute a crime against humanity if it is part of a general and systematic policy. Deportation of children can also be part of genocidal intent,” she emphasizes.

In the second case, the ICC prosecutor must review the ongoing Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, including water supply, natural gas and power plants, located far from hostilities and not considered legitimate military targets, News.ro reports.

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