Is it true that the ICC prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Putin in exchange for the release of his pedophile brother?

In March 2023, a statement spread across social networks that the appearance of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for the President of the Russian Federation was connected with the release from prison of the brother of an ICC prosecutor who was serving a sentence for sexually assaulting a teenager. We checked whether such rumors have any basis.

March 18, editor-in-chief of the church-political editorial office of Regnum news agency Stanislav Stremidlovsky reported in his Telegram channel that on February 23 in the UK, former Conservative Party MP Imran Ahmad Khan, who was serving a sentence for sexual assault against a minor, was released nine months ahead of schedule. The author of the publication drew the attention of readers to the fact that Khan’s brother is the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, who “issued a warrant” for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights under the President of the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova. “This is such a ‘coincidence,’” Stremidlovsky summed up. Another former chief editor of Regnum Yuri Baranchik bluntly stated that the early release of Imran Ahmad Khan was a “reward” for his brother from the British justice system. Baranchik’s post on Telegram was shared, in particular, by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova and chairman of the party “A Just Russia - For Truth”, State Duma deputy Sergei Mironov. Former people's deputy of Ukraine expressed confidence in the conspiracy in their channels Oleg Tsarev, ex-State Duma deputy and political scientist Sergey Markov, actor and TV presenter Oscar Kucera. The news was also spread by the media: “Ukraine.ru", "Tsargrad TV", "Moskovsky Komsomolets"etc.

On March 17, 2023, it became known that the Second Pre-trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Children's Rights Commissioner under the Russian President Maria Lvova-Belova. As stated in the press release, the chamber found reasonable evidence that both suspects were responsible for the illegal deportation and transfer of population from the occupied regions of Ukraine to Russia to the detriment of the interests of Ukrainian children. It was noted that the above arrest warrants were issued in accordance with petitions filed by the ICC prosecutor.

On the same day, on the official website of the International Criminal Court there was published and a statement from the organization's prosecutor, Karim Ahmad Khan. He confirmed that on February 22, 2023, he submitted requests to the Second Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC for the issuance of arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova. Karim Khan, who back in April last year visited war zone in Ukraine, in his September address to the UN Security Council, he emphasized that the priority task of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office is to investigate possible illegal deportations of children from Ukraine. About six months have passed since then, and, according to Khan, at the time of filing the petition, the ICC prosecutor's office had recorded cases of deportation of at least several hundred minors from Ukrainian orphanages and other institutions. Many of these children received Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure through special presidential decrees, after which they were adopted by Russian families.

It turns out that the widespread news contains at least a procedural inaccuracy: the arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova were issued not by prosecutor Karim Khan himself, but by the pre-trial chamber at his request and after considering the collected evidence.

Now regarding Imran Ahmad Khan. Indeed, in April 2022, a British politician with the same name and surname, prosecutor's brother ICC and Member of the House of Commons since 2019, was found guilty in sexual assault, or more precisely, in harassment of a 15-year-old boy that occurred in 2008. In May last year it was announced sentence: 18 months imprisonment. In practice, this meant parole after nine months. The fact is that, according to the British legislation, with terms of less than two years, criminals are released after half the term, and for the remaining time they are required to fulfill certain conditions (for example, do not leave your home at night and do not go abroad without permission from the supervisory authority). If these regulations are violated, the convicted person faces being returned to prison. In other words, Imran Ahmad Khan's official nine-month prison term expired in February, he came out for freedom on the 21st on a general basis, and there was no need to influence this issue.

Thus, the issuance of arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova could not in any way contribute to the early release of the brother of the ICC prosecutor, since he spent the time required by law in prison and announced back in May 2022. Moreover, these warrants were not issued by prosecutor Karim Khan himself, but by ICC judges on his behalf.

Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Not true

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