THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court reported Mongolia to the court’s oversight organization on Thursday for failing to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited the Asian nation last month.
Putin’s visit was his first to a member state of the court since it issued an arrest warrant for him last year on war crimes charges, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Russia is not a member of the court and the Kremlin has rejected the charges.
“States Parties and those accepting the Court’s jurisdiction are duty-bound to arrest and surrender individuals subject to ICC warrants, regardless of official position or nationality,” the court said in a statement.
Putin is wanted by the court for his alleged personal responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
Instead of arresting Putin, Mongolian authorities rolled out the red carpet. The Russian leader was welcomed in the main square of the capital, Ulaanbaatar, by an honor guard dressed in vivid red and blue uniforms styled on those of the personal guard of 13th century ruler Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire.
Ahead of the visit, Ukraine had urged Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague, and the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant.
“In view of the seriousness of Mongolia’s failure to cooperate with the Court, the Chamber deemed it necessary to refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties,” the court said, referring to its oversight body that meets in December in The Hague.
What the assembly will now do remains unclear. While Putin was in Mongolia, a court said that the organization that is made up of all 124 of the court’s member states can “take any measure it deems appropriate.”
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