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The ICC Warrant Against Putin

Junious Ricardo Stanton

“The International Criminal Court allegedly issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin on Friday, supposedly for trafficking children from Ukraine to Russia. However, since neither Ukraine nor Russia are members of the ICC (neither are the US, Israel or China, incidentally), it is entirely performative and means nothing. In fact, doing so on the anniversary of the Iraq invasion was likely designed to prompt very intense discussion on Western hypocrisy.” https://off-guardian.org/2023/03/20/this-week-in-the-new-normal-58/

The insanity escalates and is metastasizing like a malignant cancer. On March 17, 2023 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for allegedly transporting Ukrainian children to Russia. A news release regarding the warrants states, “Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’ or ‘the Court’) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova. Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).” https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and

As an observer, one who seeks truth amidst the deceit, lies and propaganda the International Criminal Court is at best a sham. First of all the International Criminal Court does not represent all the nations in the world. Only one hundred and twenty-three nations are signatures and participate in the ICC which is located in The Hague in the Netherlands. https://asp.icc-cpi.int/states-parties  Ukraine, Russia, Israel, the United States and China are not members of the ICC.

The recent action by the ICC may not even be legal because according to the ICC’s Website a nation that is a participant can be referred to the ICC for prosecution, “The ICC is only competent to hear a case if: the country where the offence was committed is a party to the Rome Statute; or the perpetrator’s country of origin is a party to the Rome Statute. The ICC may only exercise its jurisdiction if the national court is unable or unwilling to do so. The ICC only has jurisdiction over offences committed after the Statute’s entry into force on 1 July 2002.” https://www.government.nl/topics/international-peace-and-security/international-legal-order/the-international-criminal-court  This is why the US has never been referred to the ICC for its numerous crimes against humanity, it is not a member of the ICC!

A nation or case may also be referred to the ICC according to the ICC’s Website in these situations: “Various parties have the right to refer a case to the ICC: any State Party to the Rome Statute, irrespective of any involvement in the alleged offence; the Prosecutor of the ICC; the United Nations Security Council.” https://www.government.nl/topics/international-peace-and-security/international-legal-order/the-international-criminal-court-i

Why am I sharing this? Because the ICC warrant is meaningless since neither Ukraine nor Russia are signatures to the treaty that created the ICC! This is pure theater, hokum, it is Western propaganda designed to inflame public sentiment against Russia. In my opinion this propaganda stunt is comparable to the PR campaign run by Hill and Knowlton that told the lie Saddam Hussein’s army smashed babies’ heads that were in Kuwaiti incubators in a hospital natal ward! https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0906/p25s02-cogn.html,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkRylMGLPMU  That 1990 lie led to a war against Iraq that killed thousands of innocent Iraqis. It’s the same psychological con game. Don’t fall for the okey-doke!