Hungary plans despite guarantees as Netanyahu arrives at the International Criminal Court
Budapest, Hungary (AP) – Hungary said on Thursday it will begin procedures to withdraw from the world’s only global permanent court for global crime and genocide.
“Hungary will evacuate the International Criminal Court,” Viktor Orbán Prime Minister Gergely Gulyás wrote in a brief statement. “The government will initiate the withdrawal process on Thursday in accordance with the constitutional and international legal framework.”
The news comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, despite an international arrest warrant for him during the war in the Gaza Strip.
The Hungarian government is led by the right-wing populist Orbán, who extended an arrest warrant to Netanyahu in November to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, accusing him of crimes against humanity.
Netanyahu’s close ally Orbán called the arrest warrant “very rude” and “cynical.” Member States of the ICC (such as Hungary) must detain suspects if they step on the soil, but the court has no way to enforce the matter and rely on the states to comply with their rulings.
