Russia’s Investigative Committee charges ICC prosecutor in absentia

Russia’s Investigative Committee filed in absentia charges against Karim A. A. Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Rosario Salvatore Aitala, an ICC judge, who issued a warrant for Vladimir Putin’s arrest in March.

The charges against the ICC members were brought under articles on “knowingly holding an innocent person to criminal responsibility” and “preparing to attack a representative of a foreign state,” the Russian committee said in a statement.

Both Khan and Aitala have been placed on Russia’s federal Wanted list based on the investigator’s decision, though Khan had already been put on the list by Russia’s Defense Ministry.

On March 17, the ICC issued a warrant for the arrest of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova. They are each accused of the illegal deportation of children into Russia from Ukraine’s occupied territories.