AGREEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT STATUTES NOT IN LINE WITH RA
CONSTITUTION

YEREVAN, August 13 (Noyan Tapan). At the August 13 sitting the RA
Constitutional Court made a decision that the obligations stipulated
in the agreement on the Statutes of the International Criminal Court
signed in July 1998 in Rome are not in line with the RA
Constitution. Felix Tokhian, a member of the Constitutional Court,
noted that the International Criminal Court was established with the
purpose of replacing the intra-state criminal authorized bodies.

However, according to him, these and many other provisions of the
agreement contradict the RA Constitution and other Armenian
laws. According to Kim Balayan, another member of the CC, the document
was not in line with the Constitutions of the post-Soviet and some
other European countries either. The agreement will be ratified only
after the appropriate constitutional amendments in some countries. The
agreement was approved to exclude the impunity of those who committed
the gravest crimes against humanity, including genocide, hostilities
and aggression. However, RA Justice Minister David Harutiunian noted
that the International Criminal Court cannot examine the issue of the
1915 Armenian Genocide since the agreement is not retroactive. The
Minister also mentioned that the International Criminal Court did not
recognize Armenia as the aggressor against Azerbaijan since the
Armenian people exercised its right to self-determination.

139 countries signed the Agreement on the Statutes of the
International Criminal Court. At present it is in force in 96 of these
countries.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress