The B.C. businessman who offered $1 million in seed money to help bring the Russian president to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for trial as a war criminal says he’s been receiving positive responses to the idea.
Earlier this month, Vikram Bajwa's proposed kick starting a $50-million reward for whoever was successful at getting Vladimir Putin before the court.
However, the New Westminster man said the court’s clerk in The Hague has told him Putin needs to be declared a war criminal before such a prize could have effect.
“Somebody has to put an application into the court,” Bajwa said.
Putin shocked much of the international community when he ordered his troops into neighbouring Ukraine on Feb. 24. The movement of troops and shelling of major cities marked an escalation of regional tensions that have been building for quite some time.
Much of it has centred around Russian objections to Ukraine joining NATO, formed after the Second World War as a buffer to the Warsaw Pact countries headed by the former Soviet Union.
Who does Bajwa want to take advantage of the $50 million? He’s looking at those surrounding Putin in The Kremlin, he says, and at the oligarch businessmen who have become wealthy following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Putin’s rise.
Bajwa said he’s received "solid" responses from places like Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and Victoria.
He told Glacier Media he's reached out to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NATO and the leaders of the other G7 countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
"I didn't hear from them," he said.
War crimes
If U.S. and ICC comments are any indicators, the application Bajwa mentions could be in the works.
U.S. President Joe Biden has called Putin a war criminal and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on March 23 that the State Department has made a formal assessment that Russian forces in Ukraine have committed war crimes.
“The deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime,” Blinken said. “We are committed to pursuing accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions.”
ICC prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan visited Ukraine and Poland in mid-March and met with refugees.
“The accounts I have heard from men, women and children have deepened my concern regarding the impact of this situation on the civilian population,” Khan said in a March 16 statement.
“I wish to send a clear message to all those participating in hostilities. If attacks are intentionally directed against the civilian population: that is a crime that my office may investigative and prosecute," Khan said. "If attacks are intentionally directed against civilian objects, including hospitals: that is a crime that my office may investigate and prosecute.”
