Russia arrests in absentia ICC judge who issued arrest warrant for former Russian defence minister Shoigu
Pravda Ukraine
International Criminal Court judge Haykel Ben Mahfoudh has been arrested in absentia by Moscow’s Basmanny District Court.
Source: European Pravda with reference to Russian independent news agency Mediazona
Details: A criminal case has been opened in Russia against Haykel Ben Mahfoudh for alleged unlawful detention (Art. 301.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which carries a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison.
Haykel Ben Mahfoudh was one of three judges on the ICC panel that issued an arrest warrant for former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defence, for attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russia does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, and this is not the first time it has retaliated against its judges.
Background:
- Last year, ICC President Piotr Hofmański and ICC judge Tomoko Akane, who issued the arrest warrants for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, were put on the wanted list by the Russian Interior Ministry.
- In May, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan and Rosario Salvatore Aitala, the ICC prosecutor and judge who issued the arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova, were indicted in absentia by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and put on the wanted list.
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