From Vladimir Putin to Joseph Kony: The big targets the International Criminal Court has gone after

Key Factors
  • The Worldwide Prison Courtroom has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.
  • The ICC points such warrants when nations can or won’t prosecute suspects.
  • Russia’s president is now a part of an extended and ignominous record of ICC targets.
Russian President on Friday turned the most recent high-profile determine towards whom the .

Here is a have a look at the opposite large names to be focused by the court docket of final resort for the world’s worst crimes, when nations can not or won’t prosecute suspects, though not all of them have been detained.

Joseph Kony

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and different commanders of the Ugandan insurgent group the Lord’s Resistance Military (LRA) in 2005 for crimes towards humanity and struggle crimes, together with using little one troopers and intercourse slaves.

However Kony has by no means been arrested and stays on the run.

Thomas Lubanga

In its first-ever verdict after taking on its position in 2003, the Hague-based court docket in 2012 sentenced Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in jail for conscripting youngsters into his insurgent military in 2002-2003.

It upheld the choice on enchantment in 2014. Lubanga was transferred in 2015 to Kinshasa to serve the remainder of his sentence and was freed in 2020.

Jean-Pierre Bemba

Former Democratic Republic of Congo vp Jean-Pierre Bemba was jailed in 2008 after the ICC convicted him over crimes dedicated by rebels below his command within the Central African Republic in 2002-2003.

However the court docket overturned his sentence on enchantment in 2018.

Omar al-Bashir

In 2009, Sudan’s ex-president Omar al-Bashir turned the primary serving head of state to be focused by an ICC arrest warrant for struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity within the western Darfur area.

Preventing erupted in Darfur in 2003 between ethnic minority rebels and Bashir’s Arab-dominated authorities.

Two years after his fall from energy, Sudan in 2021 introduced it could hand over Bashir to the ICC, however the pledge has not been adopted by means of.

Bashir has been held in Khartoum’s Kober jail since his ouster.

Laurent Gbagbo

Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was the primary former head of state to be tried by the ICC in 2016.

He was sought by the ICC over violence that rocked Ivory Coast in 2010-2011, after Gbagbo refused to recognise the results of an election the place his rival Alassane Ouattara claimed victory.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant towards Gbagbo in 2011 after the violence left 1000’s useless within the West African nation, and he was transferred to a detention centre in The Hague.

However he was acquitted of crimes towards 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 topic of an arrest warrant for crimes towards humanity allegedly dedicated throughout the repression of the revolt that led to his father’s ouster.

He was arrested in Libya in 2011 however is taken into account to be on the run because the Libyan authorities have no idea the placement of his detention.
His launch has been introduced on a number of events however confusion continues to shroud his whereabouts.

In a shock announcement in 2021, Saif turned the primary heavyweight candidate to register to run for president, however his bid was rejected by the election fee.

Uhuru Kenyatta

The ICC suffered a significant setback in 2014 when its highest-profile case — over former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta’s involvement within the inter-ethnic violence that broke out after disputed 2007 elections — collapsed.

Kenyatta, elected in 2013, reluctantly appeared earlier than the court docket, the primary sitting head of state to take action, however the prosecutor was pressured to drop the case amid allegations of witness intimidation and bribery.

Particular tribunals

Different particular tribunals have convicted leaders accused of probably the most critical crimes.
Charles Taylor, a former Liberian president and warlord who was additionally concerned within the Sierra Leone civil struggle, was in 2012 convicted by a particular court docket to 50 years in jail for struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity.
He turned the primary head of state to be convicted by a world court docket because the Nuremberg trials that adopted World Battle Two in 1945 and 1946.
Former president Slobodan Milošević was arrested in 2001 and died in his cell in The Hague in 2006 whereas on trial for genocide, struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity on the Yugoslav struggle crimes tribunal.