Hungary says it would not arrest Russian president, despite ICC warrant against Putin

Europe, News March 24, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

A senior official from Hungary’s prime minister’s office announced on March 23, 2023, that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be arrested on arrival in Hungary under the arrest warrants issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Gergely Gulyas, Chief of Staff of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, said that despite being a signatory of the Rome Statute, a ratified treaty between 123 countries in the world that lead to the creation of ICC, Hungary would not arrest President Putin unless he has been convicted under Hungarian laws.

“We can refer to the Hungarian law and based on that we cannot arrest the Russian President as the ICC’s statute has not been promulgated in Hungary,” Gulyas said. He further added that the Hungarian government did not form a stance on the ICC arrest warrant against President Putin.

Last week, ICC booked Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute holding them allegedly responsible for the unlawful deportation and transfer of the population, including children, from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Several European countries and Western leaders hailed ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant against Putin, however, the comments by the Hungarian administration have raised questions about the legitimacy and implementation of the ICC arrest warrants.

Under the Rome Statute, the 123 member states of the ICC should act on an arrest warrant issued by the court, and arrest Putin if he enters any of the territories under the signatories of the treaty. However, Gulyas claimed that the Hungarian law has not integrated the Rome Statute into the domestic legal system, hence country’s law enforcement agencies are not obliged to obey the arrest warrants issued by the ICC.

^{Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a meeting in Budapest, Hungary, on October 30, 2019. (Image Credit: Alexei Nikolskiy/Russian Presidential press service/TASS)}

Hungary’s stance on the ICC arrest warrants does not come as a surprise to its European neighbors. The country’s current administration and particularly the fourth-time elected nationalist prime minister, Victor Orban, is Kremlin’s closest ally in the European Union and NATO. Hungary is the only NATO member that voiced concerns against western nations for sending arms to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

According to the Orban administration, Europe is drifting itself into the war by supporting Ukraine with weapons. In the past, Hungary has also made extensive efforts to block Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO. Along with Turkey, Hungary was the only NATO member state to raise concerns about Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the NATO alliance.

International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Putin

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin who is allegedly responsible for the unlawful deportation and transfer of the population, including children, from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

In response to the arrest warrants against the Russian President, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view”. She added that “Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it”.

The ICC President Piotr Hofmanski stressed that “the court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory of a state party or a state which has accepted its jurisdiction”.