“The ICC considers these measures to be unacceptable. The Court is unwavering in its legitimate mandate to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes,” the Hague-based institution said in a statement.
In March this year, Britain’s Karim Khan issued an arrest warrant for Putin for a war crime – the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The war crimes tribunal added that it was “aware of and deeply concerned by the unreasonable and unjustified coercive measures…taken by the authorities of the Russian Federation”.
The ICC statement calls on all 123 member states to “intensify their efforts to protect the Court, its officials and staff”.
On Friday, Khan’s photo could be seen in the database of the Russian Interior Ministry. The notice describes him as male, born March 30, 1970, in Edinburgh, Scotland, without specifying his crime.
Russia is not a member of the ICC and has previously declared the warrant against Putin to be “invalid”.
The court also issued an arrest warrant for Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on similar charges.
In a separate statement, the legislature, representing member states, said it was “deeply concerned” about the action against Khan and the tribunal members.
The Assembly of States Parties presiding over the ICC has said that it “deplores these acts of intimidation and these unacceptable attempts to undermine the mandate of the International Criminal Court”.
In March, the Russian Investigative Committee said Khan was being investigated for “prosecuting someone known to be innocent”.
Ukraine says more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the invasion of Moscow began in February 2022, many believed to have been placed in institutions and foster families.
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