Russia puts ICC Judge Aitala, who issued arrest warrant for Putin, on its wanted list

In May, the Russian Investigative Committee filed charges against the judge under Russian Criminal Code articles that provide for illegally taking a person into custody and plotting to attack a foreign government official, who holds the status of an internationally protected person, with the purpose of straining international relations

The name of International Criminal Court Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala, who issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been put into the database of wanted persons of the Russian Interior Ministry.

"Rosario Salvatore Aitala is wanted under a Criminal Code article," the database entry says, without specifying the charges against him.

In May, the Russian Investigative Committee filed charges against the judge under Russian Criminal Code articles that provide for illegally taking a person into custody and plotting to attack a foreign government official, who holds the status of an internationally protected person, with the purpose of straining international relations.

On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

On March 20 the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and judges, deeming their actions as knowingly unlawful since they had no grounds for holding the president and the children’s rights commissioner criminally liable. According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons of December 14, 1973, heads of state enjoy absolute immunity from the jurisdiction of foreign countries.

The Investigative Committee stated that Putin cannot be held criminally responsible since he has absolute immunity as a head of state under a 1973 UN convention. However, the committee accused the ICC prosecutor of committing crimes under Russian law by falsely accusing an innocent person of a crime. The prosecutor and judges are also suspected of planning to harm a foreign state's representative who enjoys international protection, which could worsen international relations.

The Kremlin has called the warrant's issuance "outrageous," although it is legally meaningless because Russia is not a member of the treaty that established the ICC. It stated on Monday that the court's decision reflected "clear hatred" for Russia and Putin personally.

Prosecutor Karim Khan and justices Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez are among the ICC personnel being investigated by Russia.

"The criminal prosecution is obviously illegal, since there are no grounds for criminal liability," the Russian statement said.

The ICC's decision requires the court's 123 member nations to arrest Putin and extradite him to The Hague for trial if he enters their territory.

Putin is unlikely to take that risk, and Russia does not extradite its nationals, but the unusual move against a sitting president was a significant symbolic step to hold him accountable for the repercussions of his invasion of Ukraine

Who is Rosario Salvatore Aitala

Rosary Salvatore AitalaItalian judge of the International Criminal Court (Cpi), ended up on the Kremlin’s wanted list. There Russia accused him, together with the prosecutor of the same court, Khan Karim Asad Ahmad, of having attacked “a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations“. Aitala had been assigned to follow the file on the allegations of war crimes committed in Ukraine by the Russian military. It is also thanks to his work, therefore, that the ICC has issued an international arrest warrant to the address of Vladimir Putin. Now Moscow would appear to have taken its revenge.

Rosario Aitala, 55, is originally from Catania. After graduating from law he attended a PhD course in administrative-tax law, again in Catania, to then specialize in international protection of human rights, in Rome, Tor Vergata, and in the rule of law and civil reconstruction of countries in a state of crisis, in Turku, Finland. She also holds a diploma in International Criminal Law at the European University Institute of Florence.

Throughout his career he has held numerous positions. From 1992 to 1997 he held the position of police officer with positions of manager of the mobile squad of Pavia, deputy manager of police stations in Milan and head of cabinet at the Treviso Police Headquarters.

Between 2003 and 2007 he began to deal with international issues. He takes part in the European Assistance Mission to Police and Criminal Justice Pameca (Albania), is director of the Criminal Justice Department and Chief Expert Seci Center (today Selec, police cooperation center for South-Eastern Europe) in Bucharest.

He is then a scientific expert for the European Commissionas well as senior expert for the Evaluation Mission for Kosovo, while expert for judicial reform for in South-Eastern Europe for the European Parliament.

Until 2010 he worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Legal Adviser in Directorate General Asia. Among the roles held: Coordinator of Programs for Afghanistan; Coordinator of the Mae-Regions-China Program; Coordinator and senior expert for the European twinning project with the General Prosecutor’s Office of Albania; Team Leader of the “Cocaine Route Programme” for Latin America and the Caribbean; Coordinator for corruption, money laundering and organized crime for the Twinning Project with the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of North Macedonia.