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Judge Tomoko Akane was listed as "wanted under an article of the
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation" in the online database
of Russia's interior ministry, but with no mention of her
alleged crime.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in March for Putin and his
children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of
illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine - a war
crime.
Russia acknowledges having transferred thousands of children out
of Ukraine, but says this has been done exclusively to protect
orphans and children abandoned in the war zone.
Russia responded to the ICC warrant three days later by opening
criminal cases against ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan and judges who
ordered Putin's arrest, including Akane and the Italian Rosario
Salvatore Aitala.
Khan and Aitala were placed on Russia's wanted list in May and
June respectively.
Akane, a Japanese national, has served as one of 18 judges on
the ICC since 2018, according to the court's website. Prior to
that, she was Japan's ambassador for international judicial
cooperation, and also served as a public prosecutor.
The ICC said it stood by a statement issued in May, after Khan
was placed on the list, where it said it was "profoundly
concerned about unwarranted and unjustified coercive measures
reportedly taken against ICC officials".
It said it would remain "undeterred in the conduct of its lawful
mandate to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes of
concern to the international community as a whole".
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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