loading…
Armenia, a military ally of Moscow, has instead sided with the International Criminal Court (ICC) which wants to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo/REUTERS
YEREVAN – Armenia a country known to be a military ally of Moscow, has voted on the side of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which has issued a warrant for the Russian president’s arrest. Vladimir Putin .
The ICC, based in The Hague, has accused Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine. The charges relate to the illegal transfer of children from the occupied territories in Ukraine to the territory of the Federation Russia .
Quoting an armradio report, Saturday (25/3/2023), the Armenian Constitutional Court approved the ratification of the Rome Statute by Parliament. That paved the way for the country to become a party to the ICC.
Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Arman Dilanyan stated in his decision that the Rome Statute was not against the state constitution.
Armenia actually signed the Rome Statute in 1999. However, in 2004 the local Constitutional Court ruled that the Rome Statute was partially incompatible with the country’s constitution and could not be ratified.
The ICC is the world’s first permanent international tribunal to try war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Central to the ICC’s mandate is the principle of complementarity, which states that courts will only intervene if the national legal system is unwilling or unable to investigate and try the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said it was not aware of Armenia’s decision. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Yerevan had not clarified its position.
“Not yet,” said Peskov. “We will discuss this with our partners,” he said.
