ICC Turns Down Mongolia’s Request On Failure To Arrest Putin

Mongolia’s request to appeal a ruling by the International Criminal Court that claimed Ulaanbaatar lied about its obligations by failing to detain Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit was denied by the court.

Despite a Hague-based court’s arrest warrant, the Russian leader was in Mongolia in early September for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children following his troops’ invasion of their nation in 2022.

“The Chamber rejects Mongolia’s request for leave to appeal”, pre-trial judges said in a ruling.

Mongolia, a member state, was charged by the ICC in late October and promised to take action against the ASP, its oversight body.

The Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty signed by all member states, compels countries to arrest wanted suspects.

Mongolia a few days later applied for leave to appeal the decision, as well as for two judges to be disqualified.

Additionally, it requested that the court postpone the appeals decision until there was a decision regarding the judges’ position.

But on Friday, the court denied Mongolia’s requests.

Judges argued that the ASP’s decision and referral to it could not be appealed because it did not “constitute a formal court ruling on the merits or on a procedural matter of the case.”

The judges argued that it was “rather a compliance assessment regarding the obligation to cooperate with the Court.”

The&nbsp, ICC&nbsp, issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023.

There are “reasonable grounds to believe” that Putin “bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia, according to the report.

After Russian forces seized large areas of the Ukrainian economy during their 2022 invasion, Kyiv claims that thousands of Ukrainian children were forcefully deported from orphanages and other state institutions.

Some children were reportedly moved away from fighting-related areas by Russia for their own protection.

Moscow has dismissed the warrant as having no consequence, but the&nbsp, Mongolia&nbsp, trip marked Putin’s first to an&nbsp, ICC&nbsp, member in the 18 months since it had been issued.

Last year he called off a visit to a BRICS summit in South Africa, another&nbsp, ICC&nbsp, member, after internal and external pressure on Pretoria to arrest the Russian leader should he attend.

Source: Channels TV