Russian Justice seeks and captures the ICC judge who issued an arrest warrant against Shoigu

MADRID 11 Nov. () –

A Moscow court has given the ‘green light’ to the search and capture of International Criminal Court (ICC) judge Haikel Ben Mahfudh, responsible for the arrest warrants against former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Valeri Gerasimov, issued at the end of last June.

Thus, the Russian Justice has given its approval to the request previously made by the country’s authorities, who had requested the “preliminary investigation and arrest” of Ben Mahfudh, who is accused of violating the article of the Russian Penal Code relating to crimes of “illegal detention”, according to the Russian press.

Judge Ben Mahfudh has also been included in the international list of people most wanted by Russia after he issued arrest warrants in June against Shoigu and Gerasimov for their responsibility in possible war crimes in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, unleashed in February 2022.

Ben Mahfudh, born in 1971 in Tunisia, has served as a judge at the ICC since March 2024. He stands out for his research on the protection of the environment in armed conflicts, the rights of victims, Human Rights and democratic transitions in the world. Arabic, as detailed by the organization.

These arrest warrants against Shoigu and Gerasimov are in addition to those issued in March 2023 against the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova Belova. Both are accused of the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of the European country.