On Friday March 24, the Constitutional Court of Armenia ruled that Yerevan’s accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was in accordance with the country’s Constitution. The decision was read out by the head of the Constitutional Court Arman Dilanyan.
Armenia’s membership in the organization has been underway for several months now. The legitimacy of this measure should be determined by the highest judicial body of the state, as the speaker of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan told the media the day before.
According to the chairperson of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Svetlana Zhurova, such a decision by Armenia seems very strange, especially since the compliance of joining the Rome Statute of the ICC with the Basic Law was made public after the decision of the pre-trial chamber of this body to issue an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Moscow continues to prepare for the next BRICS summit in South Africa in August, despite the fact that, hypothetically, this country could comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has confirmed the invitation to the summit of representatives of the Russian Federation.
According to Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, preparations for the summit are proceeding as usual, regardless of the ICC’s move. Directly, the decision to participate in the meeting in South Africa, Vladimir Putin has not yet been taken.
Photos used: Greger Ravik/flickr.com
