The president of the ICC catalogs the arrest warrant against Putin as a “very important signal to the world”

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March 17 () –

The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Piotr Hofmanski, has described the agency’s decision to issue an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a very important signal to the world” and to the victims of the alleged Russian plan to forcefully deport Ukrainian children.

In statements to the US television channel , Hofmanski has acknowledged that these arrest warrants are not “magic wands”, although he has defended their “deterrent effect” and considers that they give good proof of the work being carried out by the institution in the framework of the war in Ukraine, started by order of Putin more than a year ago.

“It is a very important signal to the world that we are doing our job, that the victims are not left alone, they are not forgotten and we are simply doing what is expected,” said the president of the CFI regarding the arrest warrant imposed. against Putin and the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova.

Thus, the president of the TPI has warned Putin that, from now on, “there are 123 States, two thirds of the States in the world, in which he will not be safe”, alluding to the signatory countries of the Rome Statute, which led to the creation of the International Criminal Court. Ukraine signed the agreement, although it has never ratified it; Russia and the United States, for their part, rejected it after signing it.

On this point, Hofmanski recalled that, based on the statutes of the TPI, “all States parties have the legal obligation to fully cooperate with the court, which means that they are obliged to execute the arrest warrants issued by the court” .

However, the president of the TPI has warned that this decision is not the “end of the game”, since the case “can be expanded and also cover other atrocities allegedly committed in the territory of Ukraine”, although it is true that he has admitted not having knowledge of any future maneuver of the institution.

The CFI has issued this Friday an arrest warrant against Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, accused of having committed the alleged war crime of forcibly deporting Ukrainian minors from areas captured during the war, which began more than a year ago. year, towards Russian territories.

The court understands “reasonable grounds” to believe that President Putin “has individual criminal responsibility” for these crimes, either for his “direct” commission or for having been unable to “exercise adequate control over the civilian and military subordinates who committed the crimes.” acts”.