ICC turns down appeal request from Mongolia over failure to arrest Russia’s Putin

THE HAGUE - The International Criminal Court on Nov 29 slapped down a request by Mongolia to appeal a decision saying Ulaanbaatar breached its obligations when it failed to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit.

The Russian leader was in Mongolia in early September despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the Hague-based court, for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children after his troops invaded their country in 2022.

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

The ICC in late October accused Mongolia - a member state - of failing to arrest Mr Putin and said the matter would be referred to its oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), for further action.

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.

It also asked the court to put the appeals decision on ice until there was a decision about the judges’ position.

But on Nov 29, the court denied Mongolia’s requests.

Judges said its decision and its referral to the ASP could not be appealed, as it did not “constitute a formal court ruling on the merits or on a procedural matter of the case”.

It was “rather a compliance assessment concerning the duty to cooperate with the Court,” the judges said.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin in March 2023.

It said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that Mr Putin “bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Kyiv says thousands of Ukrainian children were forcibly deported from orphanages and other state institutions after Russian forces took control of swathes of the country in its 2022 invasion.

Russia said it moved some children away from areas close to the fighting for their own protection.

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

In 2023, he called off a visit to a Brics summit in South Africa, another ICC member, after internal and external pressure on Pretoria to arrest the Russian leader should he attend. AFP