Del Ponte: “He is a war criminal”.
Former war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte has called on the International Court of Justice to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Putin is a war criminal,” said Del Ponte, 75, who investigated war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
Del Ponte, who also served for years on the UN commission investigating abuses of rights in the Syrian war, stressed that the issuance of an arrest warrant would signal that the investigative work has been completed.
“It is the only instrument that exists that allows a war crimes perpetrator to be arrested and brought before the ICJ,” she said.
Del Ponte acknowledged that the arrest warrant did not necessarily mean Putin would be arrested.
“If he stayed in Russia, that would never happen. “But it would be impossible for him to leave his country and this would be a strong signal that there are many countries against him,” she added.
Otherwise, the Hague Tribunal has launched investigations into whether Russia committed war crimes with aggression in Ukraine.