Mongolia will have to explain its refusal to arrest Putin - ICC prosecutor
Kyiv • UNN
Karim Khan said that Mongolia should explain why it did not arrest Putin during his visit. The ICC prosecutor believes that the Russian president may end up in the dock in The Hague.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Kareem Khan said in an interview with the BBC that Mongolia will have to explain why it ignored the ICC warrant for the arrest of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, UNN reports.
Details
This week, the Russian president paid a visit to Mongolia, where he was supposed to be arrested but was greeted with a red carpet.
Karim Khan assured that Mongolia will have to explain why it ignored the ICC warrant.
"The negotiation process at the court level is underway. The judges may give their recommendations in case there is a lack of cooperation, but I don't want to predict anything, because this issue is now being resolved between the judges and the Mongolian government," the prosecutor said.
When asked by the BBC whether he believed that Putin would one day end up in the dock in The Hague, Khan responded by citing the example of the former Yugoslavia.
"People laughed when the former Yugoslavia tribunal sought arrest warrants for Karadzic and Mladic, not to mention Milosevic, when the Special Court for Sierra Leone issued a warrant for former President Charles Taylor, but as history has shown, these people, who in the past had considerable power in their own country and in the region, ended up in the dock. There are examples that show that if someone does whatever they want, using power that is not limited by higher accountability, their room for maneuver is narrowing," Khan said.
Currently, the highest-ranking individuals sought by the ICC are Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
Earlier, Khan also issued arrest warrants for three leaders of the Hamas group, two of whom have since been killed as a result of hostilities in the Gaza Strip.
Context
As reported by UNN, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia, which, as a state party to the Rome Statute, must execute the International Criminal Court's warrant for Putin's arrest.
However, the country ignored the ICC's decision and refused to arrest the Russian president.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it was a blow to the international system of criminal law and warned that Kyiv would work on the consequences for Ulaanbaatar.
Recall
International Criminal Court (ICC) spokesman Fadi el-Abdallah saidthat Mongolia, as a state party to the Rome Statute, is obliged to arrest Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin during his planned visit. An arrest warrant has been issued for Putin for his involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children.
