Hague court issues arrest warrant for two Russian commanders
5 March 2024 17:05
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian Long-Range Aviation Commander Sergei Kobylash and Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Viktor Sokolov. This is stated in the ICC’s statement, Kommersant Ukrainian reports.
Two arrest warrants were issued at the request of the prosecutor’s office.
The Pre-Trial Chamber found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects were responsible for missile strikes carried out by forces under their command against Ukrainian electrical infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 to at least 9 March 2023. During this time, Russia launched a campaign of attacks on power plants and substations in Ukraine.
Lieutenant General of the Russian Armed Forces Sergey Kobylash , born on 1 April 1965, was the commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the time of the crime.
And Admiral Viktor Sokolov , born on 4 April 1962, was the commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
The court’s decision states that they are responsible for war crimes of attacking civilian objects and causing excessive incidental injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects. They are also charged with crimes against humanity.
The ICC noted that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that they are individually criminally responsible for the above crimes.
The court noted that the contents of the warrants appear to be “secret” in order to protect witnesses and guarantee the investigation. However, bearing in mind that behaviour such as that at issue in this case, which is alleged to be a violation of international humanitarian law, is alleged to be ongoing, the Chamber considers that public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of further crimes.
“Therefore, the Pre-Trial Chamber considers that it is in the interests of justice to allow the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the names of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants were issued, and the forms of liability,”
– the statement reads.
The arrest warrant from the ICC means that Russian commanders can now be detained and brought to trial in 124 countries that have ratified the Rome Statute. Ukraine has only signed it, but not ratified it.
It should be noted that the Security Service of Ukraine has already served Sokolov with a notice of suspicion for ordering the Kalibr systems to fire on Ukraine. In Ukraine, he faces life imprisonment. Kobylash was suspected of ordering massive missile attacks on residential buildings, hospitals and critical infrastructure in various regions of Ukraine. He also faces life imprisonment.
It should be added that the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on 17 March 2023. The dictator now has the official status of a suspect. Pre-Trial Chamber II issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, who is the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Affairs.
