MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax) - The Russian Interior Ministry has placed Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Ahmad Khan, who earlier issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president and the children's rights commissioner, on the wanted list.
The corresponding information was published on the Russian Interior Ministry's database of wanted individuals on Friday.
Russian Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin said earlier that Khan and ICC judges, who had moved to prosecute representatives of the Russian administration, would be placed on the wanted list.
Criminal cases were opened earlier in Russia against ICC judges for the knowingly illegal arrest decision and plotting an attack on a representative of a foreign state under international protection motivated by the intent to complicate international relations.
A criminal case has been opened against Khan for the offense of prosecuting a knowingly innocent person coupled with illegally accusing the person of committing a grave or especially grave crime, and for plotting an attack on a representative of a foreign state who enjoys international immunity with a view to complicating international relations.
The Russian Investigative Committee is now probing cases against ICC Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan and ICC judges Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez.
"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.