PACE welcomes ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin, calls to hold Lukashenko accountable as well

27.04.2023 19:50

Ukrinform

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe welcomed an arrest warrant the International Criminal Court issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling on member states of the Rome Statute to implement it, and also emphasized the need to prosecute all other Russian perpetrators, as well as the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

The corresponding resolution "Deportations and forcible transfers of Ukrainian children and other civilians to Russian Federation or to Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied: create conditions for their safe return, stop these crimes and punish the perpetrators" was adopted during the debate at the PACE’s spring session, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Assembly welcomes the International Criminal Court’s decision of 17 March 2023 to issue arrest warrants against the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the war crimes of unlawful deportation and transfer of populations, in particular children, from temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation," the document says.

Against this background, the PACE called on the member states of the Rome Statute "to take every possible action to fulfil their obligations to enforce the arrest warrants already issued by the International Criminal Court, and to support the prosecution and bringing to justice of all other responsible persons."

"In particular, named individuals for whom direct responsibility has been alleged by international human rights organisations include the Russian Federation’s Prime Minister, ministers of education and health, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the first deputy chief of staff to the Russian President and, at regional level, the governors of Krasnodar Krai, Magadan, Kamchatka Krai, the President of Tatarstan, and the head of the Republic of Adygea," the resolution reads, specifying the list of some other persons responsible for crimes in Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Representative for Children’s Rights, both suspected of illegally deporting children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia since at least February 2022.