Russia seeks extradition of 9 ICC officials convicted in absentia

Russia has requested the Netherlands to extradite nine International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, who have been convicted in the country in absentia.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Thursday it also sent requests to “a number of other countries” seeking the detention and extradition of the officials, including ICC President Tomoko Akane.

The Moscow City Court found the nine guilty in absentia in December 2025 of offenses including knowingly bringing an innocent person to criminal liability, unlawful detention and attacks on internationally protected persons or institutions. They received prison sentences ranging from three and a half to 15 years.

In 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights, for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

The move also comes amid US sanctions on ICC officials including Akane, who is a Japanese national. The US in July launched a “campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to U.S. sovereignty.” In 2020, the court had authorized an investigation into alleged crimes committed by US military personnel in Afghanistan.

Japan on Friday decried the Russian prosecutorial requests. Government spokesman Masanao Ozaki said the measures were “unjustified and unacceptable,” according to Kyodo News.

The government intends to “respond appropriately, including by making further representations to Russia” and “maintaining communication with the ICC and other states parties,” he added.

While Japan is a State Party to the Rome Statute, which established the court in 2002, Russia and the US are not.

ANEWS wp:paragraph