The Hague, Mar 17 (EFE).- The International Criminal Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin over his alleged responsibility for the war crimes of the unlawful deportation of children and the unlawful transfer of civilians from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
An arrest warrant was also issued for Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the same accusations.
“It is forbidden by international law for occupying powers to transfer civilians from territories they live in to other territories,” ICC president Piotr Hofmański said in a statement.
“Children enjoy special protection under the Geneva Convention,” he added
In a text statement, the ICC said: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes.
It added that Putin allegedly committed the crimes directly, jointly or through others, or allowed for them to be carried out by failing to exercise authority over civilian and military subordinates.
Russian forces have been accused of forcibly transferring civilians and children out of occupied areas of Ukraine into the Russian Federation following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. EFE
ir/jt
