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ICC opens inquiry into Hungary for failing to arrest Netanyahu

· 2 min read

ICC opens inquiry into Hungary for failing to arrest Netanyahu​

Judges at the International Criminal Court want Hungary to explain why it failed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Budapest earlier this month, Euro News reported.

ICC opens inquiry into Hungary for failing to arrest Netanyahu

In a filing released late on Wednesday, the Hague-based court initiated non-compliance proceedings against Hungary after the country gave Netanyahu a red carpet welcome despite an ICC arrest warrant for crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

During the visit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced his country would quit the court, claiming on local radio that the ICC was "no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court."

The Hungarian leader, regarded by critics as an autocrat and the EU’s most intransigent spoiler in the bloc’s decision-making, defended his decision not to arrest Netanyahu.

"We signed an international treaty, but we never took all the steps that would otherwise have made it enforceable in Hungary," Orbán said, referring to the fact that Hungary's parliament never promulgated the court’s statute into Hungarian law.

Judges at the ICC have previously dismissed similar arguments.

The ICC and other international organizations have criticized Hungary's defiance of the warrant against Netanyahu.

source: tehrantimes.com