Russia adds ICC prosecutor to wanted list News
klimkin / Pixabay
Russia adds ICC prosecutor to wanted list

Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs added International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan to their wanted list, according to a Friday report from Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet. Khan’s addition to the wanted list follows Khan’s visit to Ukraine and the ICC’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The ICC warrant for Putin is in connection to the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.

Three days after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin, the Russian Investigative Committee announced their own investigation into Khan and the ICC via Telegram. The Investigative Committee stated that Khan’s prosecution of Putin was “obviously illegal” due to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons of 1973, which the Investigative Committee described as providing heads of state with “absolute immunity” from the jurisdiction of foreign states. The US, Russia and the UK–where Khan is a citizen–are all parties to the convention.

The Investigative Committee stated that Khan and the judges of the ICC violated Article 301 section 2 of the Russian Criminal Code, which makes illegal “knowingly illegal detention,” and Article 360, which criminalizes “assaults on persons or institutions enjoying international protection.”

Khan, along with several ICC judges connected to the case, are all listed as defendants in the Russian prosecution.

THIS DAY @ LAW

President Harding signed "anti-beer bill"

On November 23, 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed the Willis-Campbell Act, popularly termed the "anti-beer bill," prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.

Convention on Cybercrimes opens for signature

On November 23, 2001, the Convention on Cybercrime was opened for signature in Budapest, Hungary, before entering into force on July 1, 2004. The Convention seeks to coordinate the Internet laws of signatory states and promote international enforcement of cybercrime laws. Learn more about the Convention on Cybercrime from the Council of Europe.