The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued arrest warrants against Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov and former defense minister Sergei Shoigu. As the court announced on Tuesday, the case concerns possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Ukraine war.
Specifically, the two defendants are accused of deliberate attacks on civilian objects and “inhumane acts” in Ukraine.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has meanwhile condemned Russia for “systematic violations” of human rights in Crimea. In their ruling, also on Tuesday, the Strasbourg judges unanimously found that Russia had violated the right to life, the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and freedom of expression in Crimea, among other things. In doing so, the judges largely followed a complaint by Ukraine. Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea in the Black Sea in 2014 in violation of international law.
Russia announced some time ago that it would no longer recognize judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The country was excluded from the Council of Europe because of its war of aggression against Ukraine. This means that it is no longer a member of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the ECHR ensures compliance with. Nevertheless, the Court can still rule on incidents that occurred before the exclusion.