The Russian Interior Ministry on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, the British lawyer currently acting as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
In March, Khan sought the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the children’s rights commissioner, for the alleged war crime of “unlawful deportation and transfer” of children from “occupied areas of Ukraine”to Russia.
The ICC had acted on claims by the government in Kiev that Russia’s evacuation of children from civilian areas that were under fire from Ukrainian forces amounted to forcible transfer of population, which was defined as a crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
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Three days after Khan’s announcement, on March 20, the Russian Investigative Committee launched a probe into the prosecutor, as well as three ICC judges who approved his warrant – Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez.
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Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, the British lawyer, the chief prosecutor of the ICC
[ICC Judges: Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez]
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The investigation focused on articles 299 and 360 of the Russian criminal code, namely bringing criminal charges against persons known to be innocent, and preparations for an attack on a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations.
Moscow has dismissed the ICC warrants against Putin and Lvova-Belova as null and void, as Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute that created the court. Neither are the US, China, India and several dozen other countries.
Republished by The 21st Century
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[Photos of the above-shown 1 prosecutor and 3 judges at ICC]
British Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, the British lawyer currently acting as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague
Japanese Tomoko Akane was elected to serve as a judge at the International Criminal Court on Dec. 4, 2017. Akane will become the third Japanese judge at the ICC when her nine-year term starts in March 2018. (Kyodo) (Photo by Kyodo News Stills via Getty Images)
Italian Rosario Salvatore Aitala: Judge as of 11 March 2018, for a term of nine years. Prior to joining the ICC in 2018, Judge Aitala was a senior prosecutor in Rome, where he dealt with international terrorism, international crime as well as international cooperation in criminal matters. He also served as the most senior adviser on international and legal affairs of the President of the Italian Senate, the second most senior institutional figure in the country.
Costa Rican Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez: Judge from Costa Rica, and a current judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Before he was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and an ambassador of Costa Rica to the Netherlands.