Russian permanent mission to EU explains reasons behind warrant for ICC judges

Russia’s Permanent Mission to the European Union explained to Brussels how the International Criminal Court (ICC) violated the law and why warrants were issued in Russia for ICC prosecutor and judges.

"The ICC has jurisdiction over countries that ratified the Rome Statute. Brussels pointedly ignores the fact that the Russian Federation is not a party to the ICC and is not bound by any obligations under the treaty. Therefore, the actions of the International Criminal Court, not Russia, are politically motivated and baseless," the mission said in a comment, published on Tuesday. "The ‘warrants’ issued by a quasi-judicial body for the arrest of Russian representatives violate international legal norms on immunities of foreign officials and lack any legal or factual basis."

Commenting on EU External Action Service’s claims that Russia was "intimidating" ICC members, the mission said: "Our country is not ‘intimidating’ anyone, as Brussels tries to portray it. The Russian Investigative Committee has initiated criminal cases against the ICC prosecutor and its three judges who were involved in issuing unlawful warrants."

"Russia has put the afore-mentioned persons on the wanted list for bringing criminal proceedings against knowingly innocent Russian citizens and preparing to attack representatives of a foreign state enjoying international protection, in order to complicate international relations, which violates a number of the Russian Criminal Code provisions (namely articles 299(2), 30(1), 301(2) and 360(2) thereof)," the Russian diplomats said.

"Describing the ICC as ‘an independent and impartial judicial institution’ is on the conscience of the statement’s authors," the mission added. "The EU has long forgotten what international law is and instead follows a so-called ‘rules-based order.’ Furthermore, these rules have been invented by a limited number of Western states - neither have they been discussed within universal international fora, nor are they laid down anywhere."