"The Russian Investigative Committee has charged a prosecutor and a judge of the International Criminal Court in absentia … The investigation has now collected sufficient evidence to warrant the indictment in absentia of International Criminal Court prosecutor Khan Karim Asad Ahmad and International Criminal Court judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala," the investigative authority said, adding that the accused have been put on the wanted list.
The charges against the prosecutor include bringing criminal proceedings against a person known to be innocent, combined with unlawfully charging a person with a particularly serious offense. The judge faces charges of knowingly unlawful remand in custody. Both have been accused of preparing to attack a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection, with the aim of complicating international relations.
"As previously noted, criminal prosecution is knowingly unlawful as there are no grounds for criminal liability. Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons of 14 December 1973, heads of state enjoy absolute immunity from the jurisdiction of foreign states," the Russian Investigative Committee said.
On February 22, Prosecutor Khan applied to Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC to obtain an arrest warrant for Russian nationals, the investigative authority said. ICC judges Aitala, Tomoko Akane, and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, which Moscow has slammed as unlawful.