MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - The Russian Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal case against the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, the committee's press service said.
"The moves taken by the judges of the International Criminal Court contain signs of crimes such as a knowingly unlawful act to remand a person in custody, as well as preparations for an attack on a representative of a foreign state entitled to international protection with the aim of complicating international relations," the press service said in a statement seen by Interfax on Monday.
A criminal case has also been opened against the ICC prosecutor on charges of prosecuting a person known to be not guilty, unlawfully accusing a person of committing a serious or a very serious crime, as well as preparations for an attack on a representative of a foreign state entitled to international protection with the aim of complicating international relations, it said.
The criminal case has been opened against ICC Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan and the court's Judges Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez, it said.
"International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan lodged a motion with the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court as part of a criminal investigation on February 22, 2023, seeking an arrest warrant for citizens of the Russian Federation," the Investigative Committee said.
The Investigative Committee believes that on the basis of that motion, the aforementioned ICC judges "adopted illegal decisions to issue arrest warrants for the president of the Russian Federation and the presidential commissioner for children's rights of the Russian Federation."
"This criminal case is knowingly unlawful as there are no grounds for criminal prosecution. In accordance with the December 14, 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, heads of state have absolute immunity from foreign states' jurisdiction," it said.