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International justice works slowly, but it works. Sooner or later, the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation will feel that the International Criminal Court creates problems for it. Dmitry Koval, Candidate of Law, Associate Professor of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Legal Director of Truth Hounds, said this on FREEDOM. Thus, he commented on reports from the New York Times and Reuters that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is preparing to initiate two cases of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and issue warrants for several Russians involved in these crimes, among which may be and the top leadership of the aggressor country up to Putin.
“We would like international justice to be immediate: as soon as the International Criminal Court took up the investigation of a certain case, everyone associated with this case felt the risk of falling into the hands of the International Criminal Court and international justice. Unfortunately, it is not. Justice acts rather slowly, but it works, ”the guest of the air is sure.
He stressed that there are examples when the ICC recognized the actions of leaders of states as criminal. As one of them, Koval cited an investigation into the President of Sudan in 1989-2019. Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes and ethnic cleansing. The International Criminal Court issued several warrants for his arrest.
“It is clear that the President of Sudan is no match for Putin in terms of geopolitical weight. However, despite the fact that he has avoided justice for quite some time and continues to avoid the International Criminal Court, his movements around the planet are significantly limited by the attention of the International Criminal Court to him and the arrest warrants issued by the ICC. Moreover, after the coup in Sudan, the issue of extraditing the former president of Sudan to the International Criminal Court is now seriously considered, ”comments the legal director of Truth Hounds.
In his opinion, this shows that the ICC has the ability to gain access to the main criminals from different regions.
“In the same way, it seems to me, it will be with Putin. At first, he is unlikely to strongly feel that the International Criminal Court creates problems for him. But this will change in proportion to how he loses political weight in his country. It always happens to any people. Therefore, my expectations are that the International Criminal Court will get to the Russian top, but it will take some time, ”says Dmitry Koval.
He also noted that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the International Criminal Court will soon take public steps that will demonstrate its progress in investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
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