At the session held in the National Assembly of Armenia, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was put to vote. While 22 deputies voted “no” to the Rome Statute, 60 deputies voted “yes”. The status was accepted by majority vote in the parliament.
APPROVAL PROCESS
Armenia first signed the Rome Statute in 1998. However, in 2004, the Armenian Constitutional Court found the Rome Statute contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. The government applied to the Constitutional Court again to review the status. This time, the Constitutional Court decided on March 24, 2023 that the Rome Statute was compatible with the Armenian Constitution. The Armenian government sent the draft approval of the status to the National Assembly on September 1, 2023.
IF PUTIN GOES TO ARMENIA, HE WILL BE ARRESTED
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 17, on the grounds that Ukrainian children were illegally removed from Ukraine and committed war crimes. Accordingly, Putin should be arrested if he sets foot in Armenia, which is a party to the Rome Statute.
RUSSIA REACTED
In his statement last week regarding the Armenian government’s intention to accept the Rome Statute, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “Armenia is aware of the decision of the International Criminal Court to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin. We know that this is well known in Yerevan. “This is not something we welcome,” he said. Peskov stated that Armenia’s attitude was “extremely hostile”. In the statement made by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was stated that “The ratification of the Rome Statute by Armenia will have negative consequences in terms of bilateral relations.”
WE ARE NOT TARGETING RUSSIA
The Armenian government, on the other hand, stated that the decision to ratify the Rome Statute was not a decision taken against Russia, and that the aim was to hold Azerbaijan responsible for “war crimes”.
Source: UAV