© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala, Judge Tomoko Akane and Judge Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez attend the International Criminal Court, as it holds hearings to determine the exact charges it will bring against former Central African Republic milit
(Reuters) – Russia has issued an arrest warrant for a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) who in March issued a warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges, Russian TASS news agency reported on Wednesday.
Judge Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez was listed, TASS reported, as “wanted under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation” in the online database of Russia’s interior ministry, but with no mention of her alleged crime.
Russia has placed most of the ICC leadership on its wanted list after the Court issued arrest warrants in March for Putin and his children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine – a war crime.
Russia acknowledges having transferred thousands of children out of Ukraine, but says this has been done exclusively to protect orphans and children abandoned in the war zone.
