The Russian Interior Ministry added International Criminal Court (ICC) President Piotr Hofmański to its most wanted list, Russian news agency TASS reported.
According to the outlet, Hofmański was declared "wanted under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation." However, "it is not specified under which article the persecution is being carried out."
Russia also added Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, vice president of the ICC, and Judge Bertram Schmitt to its most wanted list.
The arrest warrant against Putin
The search and arrest warrant against ICC officials comes to light months after the organization issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Specifically, the judges of the Hague Tribunal singled out Putin for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of children in Ukraine.
The court noted in a statement that Putin " is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."
There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others, and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility.
Russia declared at the time that the arrest warrant against Putin lacks legal standing because the country is not under the court's jurisdiction.
