The Hungarian National Assembly voted for Hungary’s exit from the International Criminal Court (ICC), and as a result, the government will soon notify the UN Secretary-General today in Budapest.
Orbán’s government made headlines when it announced its decision to leave the ICC on April 3, shortly after Netanyahu arrived in Hungary for a state visit despite the ICC arrest warrant. At the time, Orbán criticized the court, stating that the ICC was “no longer an impartial court, a rule-of-law court, but rather a political court.”
Now, Hungary has made its exit official after parliament voted on the move, according to Hungarian news outlet Hirado.
According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, the ICC had provoked significant debates in the international political space in recent weeks after the judiciary had done “nonsense things.” He cited the “politically unacceptable” decision to issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
“Obviously, this has become not only a frivolous but also a politically motivated judicial organization, and it is unacceptable for us to have a court motivated by politics,” said Szijjártó.
“Therefore, it is clear that Hungary has nothing to gain in this organization. We do not give our name to such a frivolous and politically motivated court operation, which is why we submitted to the Parliament that Hungary should leave the ICC,” added the Hungarian foreign minister.
Hungarian lawmakers voted to leave the ICC on Tuesday, with 134 members voting in favor and 37 against.
Netanyahu called Hungary’s move to leave the ICC a “bold and principled decision.”
“Now that Parliament has voted on this, my job is to notify the UN Secretary-General of this move. Of course, the list has already been prepared, and as soon as its decision enters into force for the Parliament, it will be signed and promulgated by the President, I will send the letter to the UN Secretary-General immediately,” said Szijjártó.
