Russia puts another ICC judge on wanted list

MOSCOW (AFP): Russia said on Wednesday that it had put on its wanted list another judge of the International Criminal Court, which is seeking the arrest of President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine conflict.

“Wanted in the framework of a criminal investigation,” said a notice in the interior ministry’s database, referring to Sergio Gerarde Ugaldo Godinez, a Costa Rica judge on the Hague-based ICC.

The notice did not provide details on the allegations against Godinez.

In March, the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

The ICC also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, on similar charges.

Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, insists the warrant against Putin is “void”.

But the warrant has restricted the Russian leader’s travels abroad, as ICC member countries are expected to implement the court’s warrants.

Putin did not go a Brics summit in South Africa in August, saying he did not want to create “problems for our friends”, nor to a G20 summit in India in September.

Russia has earlier issued arrest warrants for ICC prosecutor Karim Khan and several judges. In September it said it was seeking the arrest of the ICC president, Piotr Hofmanski.

In September, the ICC opened a field office in Ukraine, as part of efforts to hold Russian forces accountable for Moscow’s offensive in the Western-backed country.