MOSCOW, Sept 26 (NNN-XINHUA) — The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has placed President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Piotr Hofmanski on the country’s wanted list, local media reported Monday.
“Hofmanski Piotr Jozef, Polish. Wanted under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” TASS reported, citing a statement from the ministry’s database.
In addition to Hofmanski, the First Vice President of the ICC Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza and judge Bertram Schmitt have also been added to the wanted list.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on March 17 this year over an alleged war crime of unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.
Moscow has been retaliating against the ICC, which back in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over the forced transfer of children to Russia since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last year.
Russia said it did not recognize the court’s authority and quickly responded to the arrest warrant by opening its own criminal case against the ICC prosecutors and judges.
Since then, Russia has placed several ICC officials on its wanted list, including British prosecutor Karim Khan and judges Tomoko Akane and Rosario Salvatore Aitala. — NNN-AGENCIES
