The Sunday Times suggests that, after he steps down as President, Putin may face the threat of arrest every time he travels outside of Russia:
“The biggest concern for Putin is what he is going to do after he retires and loses his immunity as head of state,” Shvets said at his home in Virginia. “He should be afraid of turning into another Pinochet. Putin likes to travel abroad and one day he may go downhill skiing in Europe and find himself behind bars.”
Barry Carter, professor of law at Georgetown University in Washington, also said Putin had good cause to worry. “Heads of state are generally protected, but once he stands down, his legal status becomes very murky. If he travels, it will be at some risk.”
“That’s why they worry so much about who is going to succeed them,” said Carter. “I’d advise Putin to get a nice governmental title and a good international lawyer.”
I hadn’t considered this idea before, but I can readily imagine that many people will look to launch court cases against Putin after 2008, particularly in European Union countries. Watch out for Chechnya-related cases in particular.
- What next?
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Timothy Post 03.11.07 at 11:20 pm
Read the comments to the story at the Sunday Times website to read what most people think of such silly Russophobe nonsense.
Andy 03.12.07 at 7:24 am
Although I think the Times’ owners would probably like to infer that Putin is guilty of such crimes, I’m not sure that’s really the issue.
More to the point: the way EU law is worded - and interpreted - at the moment, means there is a very good chance that one individual will press a charge that will be interpreted by a local court as being within its remit. And, next time Putin visits that country, he will face the prospect of appearing in front of that court.
La Russophobe 03.13.07 at 11:03 am
How interesting. It seems quite possible that Putin of 2009 could be just like Berezovsky of right now — except of course that Berezovsky can go anywhere in the world except Russia, whilst Putin wouldn’t be able to go anywherein the world EXCEPT Russia.
And before long, Putin might become just like Khodorkhovsky! Isn’t it deliciously ironic?
TIMOTHY POST: Are you saying that if the comments to the story agreed with it, you’d accept it as being true? Are you saying that 13 anonymous comments are more representative of public opinion than a story in one of the world’s leading newspapers? Your mendacity is truly breathtaking! Odd that you’d place so much face in anonymous remarks, I’d thought you don’t care for them.
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