Germany obliged to arrest, hand Putin over to the ICC if he goes there, justice minister says
Marco Buschmann (Photo:Sandro Halank/Wikipedia)
Berlin will be obliged to arrest Russian dictator Vladimir Putin if he comes to German territory, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said on March 18, according to newspaper DieZeit.
Buschmann said that if Putin showed up in Germany, the International Criminal Court or ICC would promptly turn to Interpol to execute the arrest warrant.
“Then Germany will be obliged to arrest President Putin if he enters German territory and hand him over to the ICC,” the minister said.
Buschmann noted that the ICC, unlike national law enforcement agencies, can arrest heads of state.
On March 17, the ICC in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Children's Ombudsperson, Maria Lvova-Belova. They are accused of illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia since Feb. 24, 2022.
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin has said that Putin can be arrested in the 123 countries that have ratified the Rome Statute.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov have said the Kremlin considers the warrant "legally null and void" because Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute – the founding charter of the ICC.
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