Hungary refuses to enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin

Gergely Gulyash, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office of Hungary insisted that the ICC arrest warrant was not binding on Hungarian territory.

Gergely Gulyash, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office of Hungary, insisted this Thursday, March 23, that the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is not binding on Hungarian territory.

He informed reporters that Budapest does not recognise the official status of that part of the ICC statute that would make such an arrest possible, according to Bloomberg. In the action of arresting the Russian leader, Hungary would have violated its Constitution he said.

An arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 17, for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belovo, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Russian Federation. Both are accused of the ‘illegal removal of children’ from the territories of Ukraine.

The ICC was formed under the 1998 Rome Statute, which has 123 signatories. All 27 countries of the European Union are among them. The jurisdiction of the court is not recognised by Russia, the United States and China. According to Article 63 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, trial in absentia is not possible. It is the responsibility of the member states of the Rome Statute to enforce the warrant.

A head of state has no immunity before the International Court of Justice according to ICC laws. However, within the framework of interstate relations, the head of state has personal immunity, as reported by kommersant.ru.

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