The International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for President Vladimir V. Putin could thrust his allies into domestic and foreign legal disputes, experts say.

Mr. Pistorius, who has maintained that the killing was an accident and that he is remorseful, has served about half of his 15-year sentence.

Scholars say it is important to hold the powerful legally accountable, but there are likely to be charges — well-founded or not — that prosecutors have political motives.