Key Points
- The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.
- The ICC issues such warrants when countries can or will not prosecute suspects.
- Russia’s president is now part of a long and ignominous list of ICC targets.
Here’s a look at the other big names to be targeted by the court of last resort for the world’s worst crimes, when countries cannot or will not prosecute suspects, although not all of them have been detained.
Joseph Kony
But Kony has never been arrested and remains on the run.
Thomas Lubanga
In its first-ever verdict after taking up its role in 2003, the Hague-based court in 2012 sentenced Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in prison for conscripting children into his rebel army in 2002-2003.
It upheld the decision on appeal in 2014. Lubanga was transferred in 2015 to Kinshasa to serve the rest of his sentence and was freed in 2020.
Jean-Pierre Bemba
But the court overturned his sentence on appeal in 2018.
Omar al-Bashir
Fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003 between ethnic minority rebels and Bashir’s Arab-dominated government.
Bashir has been held in Khartoum’s Kober prison since his ouster.
Laurent Gbagbo
He was sought by the ICC over violence that rocked Ivory Coast in 2010-2011, after Gbagbo refused to recognise the result of an election where his rival Alassane Ouattara claimed victory.
But he was acquitted of crimes against humanity following a three-year trial and freed in 2019. Gbagbo returned to Ivory Coast in 2021 after his acquittal.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has since 2011 been the subject of an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the repression of the revolt that led to his father’s ouster.
In a surprise announcement in 2021, Saif became the first heavyweight candidate to register to run for president, but his bid was rejected by the election commission.
Uhuru Kenyatta
The ICC suffered a major setback in 2014 when its highest-profile case — over former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta’s involvement in the inter-ethnic violence that broke out after disputed 2007 elections — collapsed.
Kenyatta, elected in 2013, reluctantly appeared before the court, the first sitting head of state to do so, but the prosecutor was forced to drop the case amid allegations of witness intimidation and bribery.
:format(webp)/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/world/europe/2023/03/13/a-60-day-extension-of-wartime-grain-deal-is-acceptable-says-russia/war_in_ukraine.jpg "A 60-day extension of wartime grain deal is acceptable, says Russia")
