Thursday 03/April/2025 – 01:10 PM
The International Criminal Court confirmed that Hungary is still binding in cooperation with the court in relation to the arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the Budapest announcement of the withdrawal from the Rome Basic System, founding the court.
Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary
This confirmation comes after the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Urban received his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu in Budapest, in a move that raised questions about the position of Hungary on the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, while analysts said that this decision places Budapest in a confrontation with international law.
The court stated in a statement that the withdrawal of any country from the Rome Basic System does not exempt it from its previous obligations, noting that any legal procedures began before the withdrawal is valid and remained and binding on the state concerned.
Hungary had announced, earlier, its intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, to become one of the few countries that make this decision, amid international criticism of this step.
The interview of the International Criminal Court is due to what is stipulated in Article 127 on the withdrawal of international criminal membership, which is the following:
1. Any party, through a written notification addressed to the Secretary -General of the United Nations, may withdraw from this basic system. The withdrawal becomes effective after one year from the date of receiving the notification, unless the notification determines a date later.
2. Because of its withdrawal, the state is not exempted from the obligations arising from this statute during a period of being a party to it, including any financial obligations that may be due. Also, its withdrawal does not affect any cooperation with the court with regard to the criminal investigations and the related procedures, which the withdrawn state had to cooperate, and began before the withdrawal became effective, and the withdrawal in any way does not affect the continuation of the court on any issue that was under study before the withdrawal became effective.
It is noteworthy that the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former defense minister Joav Galet, and other Israeli officials on the backdrop of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Palestinian territories, a memorandum that sparked widespread controversy on the international scene.
