Hungarian Parliament approves withdrawal from the Hague International Court

The Hungarian Parliament on Tuesday approved the proposal to withdraw the country by the International Criminal Court (ICC), with 134 votes in favor, 37 against and 7 abstentions.

The initiative was presented by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen.

According to the government’s reasoning, the ICC has become a political actor.

Portal 24. Hu reported in July last year that following the request of the ICC Prosecutor General for the issuance of a arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, due to military actions in Gaza, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban had charged three ministers of his Cabine He made such a step.

According to the Hungarian Radio Free Europe service, the Orban government interpreted the statement of former US President Donald Trump as a positive signal on February 5, when the latter warned of sanctions against the ICT after the Netanyahu arrest warrant.

Following the issuance of Netanyahu, Orban accused the ICR of « interfering for political purposes in a developmental conflict », and said the decision undermines international law.

He stated that he would oppose the order and invite Netanyah to visit Hungary, guaranteeing that he would not be arrested.

According to the Hungarian government, this was possible because the Hungarian parliament had never ratified the JNP statute, so it had no legal force in Hungary and no arrests could be implemented on the basis of it.

On February 25, Minister Gergely Gules said the government was seriously considering withdrawing from the ICT, which had had a Hungarian judge in its composition until the end of its term, last year.

He said the court, once a respectable initiative, was now « turned into a political actor ».

On April 1, the Minister of Justice, Bence Tuzson, presented at a meeting of ambassadors, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the sketch of the withdrawal process.

Two days later, Gules publicly announced on social media that the decision to withdraw was made.

This decision was confirmed on May 7, with the final voting of Parliament