ICC issues arrest warrant for Russian army chief and a former minister

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Tuesday June 25 that it had issued arrest warrants against Russian Chief of Staff Valéri Gerassimov and former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

They are both accused of being responsible for the war crimes of directing attacks against civilian objects and causing excessive accidental harm to civilians, as well as the crime against humanity of “inhumane acts”, it said. the ICC in a press release.

The ICC, which sits in The Hague, considers “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against Ukrainian electrical infrastructure between at least October 10, 2022 and at least March 9, 2023.”

It further considers that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged strikes were directed against civilian objects and that, for installations which could have been considered military objectives at the time of the events, incidental civilian damage expected would have been clearly excessive in relation to the expected military advantage.