Russia has placed International Criminal Court (ICC) Judge Tomoko Akane on its wanted list months after the court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, state media reported Thursday.
The Russian Interior Ministry search database lists Akane’s personal information, according to the state-run news agency TASS, but does not specify which crime she is accused of.
Akane is the second ICC judge to be placed on Russia’s wanted list, with Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala appearing in the database last month.
In May, Russia’s Interior Ministry also placed ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan on its wanted list.
The Hague-based ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin and his children’s rights commissioner over the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, immediately launched a criminal investigation into Khan, Aitala, Akane and ICC Judge Sergio Gerardo Uganda Godinez for “unlawfully” seeking Putin’s arrest.
Moscow dismissed the ICC warrant, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the move as a “historic decision.”
U.S. President Joe Biden, who has reportedly ordered to share evidence of Russian war crimes with the ICC in a major policy shift, called the arrest warrant “justified.”
