Parliament Speaker Proposing Banning ICC in Russia

World

March 25th, 6:54am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a forum of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) in Moscow, Russia, March 16, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS

Russia's parliament speaker on Saturday proposed banning the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crimes. Vyacheslav Volodin, an ally of Putin's, said that Russian legislation should be amended to prohibit any activity of the ICC in Russia and to punish any who gave "assistance and support" to the ICC. "It is necessary to work out amendments to legislation prohibiting any activity of the ICC on the territory of our country," Volodin said in a Telegram post. The ICC last week issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him and his children's commissioner of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia. While the ICC can prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine, it cannot prosecute the crime of aggression due to legal constraints. International support is growing for the creation of a special tribunal that would prosecute Russian leaders for the 13-month-old invasion of Ukraine itself, considered by Ukraine and Western leaders to be a crime of aggression.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4232301/parliament-speaker-proposing-banning-icc-russia