Wanted: Vladimir Putin

[Celerity]

Whether Russia’s president ever ends up in handcuffs, the International Criminal Court’s indictment is a big step in the right direction.

https://www.socialeurope.eu/wanted-vladimir-putin



The internet has recently been flooded with AI-generated images of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, being put on trial or incarcerated. But while the images are fake, international criminal justice is becoming a reality. On March 17th, after years of being mired in controversy and crisis, the International Criminal Court surprised the world by formally indicting Putin and issuing a warrant for his arrest.

The ICC’s specific charge—that Putin is responsible for the unlawful abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the court and the Geneva Conventions on the laws of war—addresses only a fraction of the offences he has committed. Putin and his inner circle are morally, and probably legally, responsible for countless war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide. Yet, as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, observed, the warrant represents ‘a historic decision’, not because it guarantees an arrest or trial but because it sets a precedent.

Dubious distinction

Although Putin is not the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC—he shares this dubious distinction with such despots as the former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi—he is certainly the most prominent. After all, unlike Russia, Sudan and Libya are not permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

To be sure, some sceptics have dismissed the warrant as being merely symbolic, noting that many leading global powers—including the United States, China and India—are not even parties to the ICC. Russia itself does not recognise the authority of the court (the Kremlin declared the warrant ‘null and void’) and the Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens. As a nuclear power and a major global supplier of hydrocarbons, Russia has ample means with which to threaten anyone who seeks to bring its leaders to justice. The former Russian president Dimitri Medvedev has already mused about launching missile strikes on the ICC building in the Hague.

Breaking new ground......

snip

[EYESORE 9001]

1. I had not heard the threat from Medvedev

Russia will never join the community of civilized nations at this rate.

[mitch96]

2. For centuries the ruzzians have not even treated their own people well so we can't expect

them to treat the civilized world with respect..
I get the impression the ruzzian people don't want justice or democracy, they want someone in power to tell them what to do. How many dictators have they had in their history that killed many of their own people..uff
m