Last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and another Russian official amid allegations of war crimes of unlawful transfer and deportation of children under Article 8 of the Rome Statute. Putin was meeting with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh to discuss the two countries’ economic cooperation, according to a statement from the Kremlin. Under international law, ICC member-states are supposed to act on warrants issued by the court. Mongolia failing to live up to its mandate risks eroding the credibility of the court. Last week, ICC spokesman Dr. Fadi el-Abdallah said it relies on nations that are ICC signatories to “execute its decisions,” adding that Mongolia has an “obligation to cooperate.”Human rights advocates are strongly condemning Mongolian officials, who, in defiance of an international arrest warrant, declined to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin when he arrived for a state visit.
This is NOT how an ICC suspect and fugitive from international justice should be received in a State Party to the @IntlCrimCourt. By failing to arrest #Putin, #Mongolia is violating the Rome Statute and its own legislation. Rule of law is in trouble in 🇲🇳.pic.twitter.com/dsPf8rUf3L In July 2023, a South African court ordered Putin’s arrest if he attended the BRICS summit, but he declined to travel. The trip to Mongolia is the first time Putin has traveled to an ICC member state since the warrant was issued. Human rights groups are now criticizing the country for failing to carry out its obligation as an ICC member. “President Putin is a fugitive from justice. Any trip to an ICC member state that does not end in arrest will encourage President Putin’s current course of action and must be seen as part of a strategic effort to undermine the ICC’s work to prosecute suspected war criminals,” said Altantuya Batdorj, Executive Director of Amnesty International Mongolia. “If the Mongolian authorities fail to arrest him, they will have done nothing but give succour to a man who is accused by the ICC of being responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children, but is also potentially responsible for a plethora of other war crimes and crimes against humanity in a conflict that has shattered the lives of millions and destroyed the hopes and aspirations of a generation,” Batdorj added.
— Sergey Vasiliev (@sevslv) September 2, 2024
The Mongolian government’s failure to carry out the binding ICC arrest warrant for Putin is a heavy blow to the International Criminal Court and the international criminal justice system. Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, says, “Welcoming Putin, an ICC fugitive, would not only be an affront to the many victims of Russian forces’ crimes, but would also undermine the crucial principle that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law.” Legal experts predict that Mongolia will face some sort of punishment over its failure to arrest the Russian president. “Mongolia will most certainly be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for breaching its duty of cooperation,” Tamás Hoffmann, senior research fellow at the Institute for Legal Studies, told POLITICO. “The ICC may then decide to refer the case to the Assembly of Parties, which could condemn Mongolia’s violation under a so-called non-compliance procedure,” he added. “However, there are no serious consequences, such as sanctions, for the offending country.”
— Heorhii Tykhyi (@SpoxUkraineMFA) September 2, 2024
