MOSCOW: A Russian court on Friday sentenced the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor and several senior judges to prison terms in absentia, escalating Moscow’s standoff with the Hague-based tribunal following its arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin.
The Moscow City Court handed ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan a 15-year prison sentence, while eight other ICC officials — including former court president Piotr Hofmanski — received jail terms ranging from three-and-a-half to 15 years, according to Russian authorities and AFP.
The rulings stem from a criminal case opened by Moscow after the ICC issued arrest warrants in March 2023 for Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of illegally deporting Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories during the war in Ukraine.
In a statement, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said the court found the ICC officials guilty of prosecuting “innocent persons,” illegal detention and attempting violence against individuals entitled to international protection. It claimed Khan had unlawfully initiated criminal proceedings against Russian citizens and that the ICC leadership had instructed judges to issue “knowingly unlawful” arrest warrants.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly dismissed the court’s actions as legally void. None of the defendants were present during the proceedings.
Khan, 55, is currently suspended from his duties pending an internal ICC investigation into sexual misconduct allegations, which he has denied.
