The newly elected President of the International Criminal Court, Tomoko Akane, expressed her firm belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whose arrest the ICC issued a warrant last year, will stand trial for his war crimes in Ukraine. She said this in an interview with Kyodo News, reports UNN.
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As a sign that Putin will eventually be held accountable, Tomoko Akane quoted a Chinese proverb: "Heaven's vengeance is slow but sure."
The ICC chief acknowledged that "there has not been a single case that has led to arrests in the last two years." As fighting continues in Ukraine and between Israel and the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip, "there are many cases that need to be answered," she said.
However, she added that "as long as there is evidence and necessity, we have to issue (an arrest warrant - ed.) regardless of the circumstances and political background.
On March 11, Tomoko Akane was elected as the head of the ICC. It was she who last year issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin and Children's Ombudsman Maria Levova-Belova. After that, she was put on the wanted list in Russia .
Recall
International Criminal Court On March 5, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian Long-Range Aviation Commander Sergei Kobylash and Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Viktor Sokolov.
kobylash and Sokolov are suspected of war crimes: attacks on Ukrainian civilian objects with excessive harm to civilians, as well as crimes against humanity.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants for Russian long-range aviation and Black Sea Fleet commanders, promising to continue making every effort to ensure that "not a single Russian beast guilty of killing Ukrainian children, women and men will go unpunished.