Performative mail. Russia requests the extradition of current and former ICC judges sentenced in absentia over the Putin warrant

The list includes former ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, the court’s president Tomoko Akane, first vice-president Rosario Salvatore Aitala, second vice-president Reine Alapini-Gansou, and judges Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godínez and Haykel Ben Mahfoudh.

It also names two people who no longer sit on the court: former president Piotr Hofmański and former judge Bertram Schmitt.

The Russian press release gives outdated titles. It calls Hofmański the court’s president and Ibáñez Carranza its first vice-president, which were their posts from 2021 to 2024. Hofmański’s term on the court ended in March 2024. The current president, Akane, appears in the release only as a judge.

Khan also no longer works at the court. In July 2026, the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties removed him from office after sexual misconduct allegations. Russia’s request still refers to him as the ICC prosecutor.

In December 2025, the Moscow City Court found all nine guilty in absentia of bringing a knowingly innocent person to criminal liability, unlawful detention, and an attack on persons enjoying international protection. The charges were quite unique, as one of the criminal articles relates to “the preparation... of an attack on a representative of a foreign state... for the purpose of provoking war or complicating international relations.”

Khan received 15 years in a penal colony. The others received sentences ranging from three and a half to 15 years.

The Prosecutor General’s Office repeated its earlier claims. It said Khan “unlawfully brought citizens of the Russian Federation to criminal liability” and that the ICC presidium, “in the absence of legal grounds,” instructed judges to issue “knowingly unlawful” arrest warrants. According to the office, these decisions violated international law and were made “in the absence of any evidence.” It also cited the 2016 presidential order withdrawing Russia’s intention to become a party to the Rome Statute, adding that Russia “does not recognise its jurisdiction.”

As in December, the press release does not name the Russian citizens. The Investigative Committee had previously confirmed that the case was opened in response to the March 2023 warrants for Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The ICC holds them responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia.

Since the warrant was issued, Vladimir Putin has limited his travel to countries friendly to the Kremlin. He then defied the court in September 2024 by visiting Mongolia, a state party to the Rome Statute. Mongolia’s refusal to arrest Putin led to a formal “Non-Cooperation Finding” by the ICC, which referred the matter to the Assembly of States Parties.