Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Credit: Reuters file photo
The Hague: International Criminal Court arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and five other Russians accused of war crimes in Ukraine will stay in place even if a blanket amnesty is approved during U.S.-led peace talks, ICC prosecutors said on Friday.
Deputy prosecutors Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal and Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, who have been responsible for investigations at the court since the chief prosecutor went on leave, said a United Nations Security Council resolution would be required to suspend court-issued warrants.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the other five over their alleged roles in atrocities during the war that began with Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Putin and Russian Child Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova face allegations of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
RUSSIAN DENIAL
Russia rejects the ICC's jurisdiction and has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes.
Among other high-profile Russian suspects sought by the International Criminal Court are Sergei Shoigu, the former defence minister, and Russian general Valery Gerasimov, who are wanted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity for attacks on civilians.
"If there is a peace deal which then leads the Security Council to ask us to defer an investigation, then that's a matter - that's a political process for the Security Council. But as far as we're concerned...at the end of the day, it does not stop the way that justice is delivered," Deputy Prosecutor Khan said, citing the court's founding Rome Statute.
An early 28-point U.S. draft peace proposal emerged in November, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow's main demands. One of the points stipulated that “all parties involved in the conflict will receive full amnesty for their actions during the war”.
Deputy Prosecutor Niang said that "apart from the bracket we mentioned in respect of the Security Council route, we are obligated to observe our statute, which does not give weight to some of those political arrangements".
UKRAINE REJECTS BLANKET AMNESTY
Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands, Andriy Kostin, who previously served as its prosecutor general, dismissed the idea of a blanket amnesty. "...With such mass atrocities committed in the course of these years, it's impossible to grant impunity for all those responsible, all those who committed these crimes and who ordered the commission of these crimes," he told Reuters.
The ICC, the world's permanent court for war crimes, has 125 member countries. Some of the world's leading powers - Russia, China and the United States - are either not members or openly oppose it.