THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defense minister, and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov on Tuesday for alleged crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Shoigu was removed from his post of defense minister last month, and appointed Secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council, in the most significant changes Russian President Vladimir Putin made to his military command since the start of the war in 2022.
The Hague-based court said Shoigu and Gerasimov were suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine.
Judges had found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023,” the ICC said in a press release.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly said Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine is also not a member, but has granted the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory.
The warrants for Shoigu and Gerasimov bring the total of arrest warrants issued against senior Russian suspects since the beginning of the invasion to eight. These include Putin, suspected of a war crime over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The tribunal has no police force of its own and relies on member states to make arrests.
During the timeframe mentioned in the latest warrants Russia is suspected of having carried out strikes against numerous electric power plants and sub-stations all over Ukraine.
According to ICC judges, there were reasonable ground to believe the strikes targeted mostly civilian objects “and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage,” making the attacks war crimes
International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russia’s Shoigu and Gerasimov
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International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russia’s Shoigu and Gerasimov
- The Hague-based court said Shoigu and Gerasimov were suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity
Hong Kong plans to buy homes devastated in deadly high-rise fire
HONG KONG: Hong Kong proposes to spend about HK$4 billion ($512 million) to buy out the owners of homes in a high-rise housing complex ravaged by a massive fire that killed more than 160 in November, authorities said on Saturday.
The prices offered will be HK$8,000 per sq. ft. without a land premium payment, and HK$10,500 per sq. ft for those receiving such a payment, officials in the Asian financial hub told a media briefing.
“We believe the proposed price is sufficient for the affected residents to relocate and secure long-term housing,” said Wong Wai-lun, Hong Kong’s deputy financial secretary.
The government also offered an apartment exchange program for the 4,600 affected tenants, who lived in nearly 2,000 housing units at the complex, Wang Fuk Court.
The total outlay, estimated at HK$6.8 billion, will drop by HK$2.8 billion from a contribution by a relief fund, and could go lower still after insurance compensation in factored in, the officials said. ($1=7.8148 Hong Kong dollars)
