News - Internal legal grounds being created for Armenia to apply to ICC in connection with Azerbaijan's war crimes

The Armenian side will apply to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in relation to the war actions unleashed by Azerbaijan on the sovereign territory of Armenia in 2022, when internal legal grounds for the implementation of the functions of the member state defined by the Rome Statute are created. Armenian News-NEWS.am learned about this by summing up the answers received from the Ministry of Justice of Armenia and the office of the representative of Armenia on international legal affairs in response to written requests. The Rome Statute of the ICC has entered into force for Armenia as of February 1. Taking into account the fact of Armenia ratifying the Rome Statute and recognizing the jurisdiction retroactively, Armenian News-NEWS.am had inquired from the competent authorities of Armenia whether the latter applied to the ICC in relation to the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan in 2022 on the sovereign territory of Armenia. In response, the Ministry of Justice of Armenia officially announced that after the ratification of the Rome Statute, active work is being carried out in the coordination of the ministry, as a body that develops the sectoral policy, in ensuring domestic structures, training jurists, and some other directions. "In this context, the Ministry of Justice has developed the draft law ‘On cooperation of the Republic of Armenia with the International Criminal Court,’ based on the logic that the Representative of [Armenia] on International Legal Affairs has the authority to present specific situations for the consideration of the International Criminal Court," said the response of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice. In turn, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, the representative of Armenia on international legal affairs, informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that together with the process of Armenia's accession to the Rome Statute, the process of implementing the necessary domestic legislative changes due to Armenia's membership is underway, as a result of which it is planned to accept Armenia's law on collaboration with the ICC, as well as making amendments to a number of existing laws of Armenia, including the law on the representative on international legal affairs. "The purpose of these amendments is also to define the powers of the state bodies of the Republic of Armenia in terms of coordinating cooperation with the International Criminal Court and creating internal legal grounds for the implementation of the functions of a member state defined by the [Rome] Statute, including in terms of the implementation of the actions provided for in Article 14 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court," added Yeghishe Kirakosyan.