Orban explained Hungary's withdrawal from the ICC by the politicization of the organization

On April 3, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced the country's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying that the organization had lost its independence and turned into a political institution.

"I was the Prime Minister who signed the document on joining the International Criminal Court in 2000. And recently, I was the one who signed the withdrawal document. Hungary has decided, the Hungarian government has decided to leave. The reason is that we have seen that this is a political court, and in recent years it has become not an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court," Orban told reporters after talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to him, this was especially evident in the court's decisions on Israel. He stressed that Hungary, as a democratic constitutional state, cannot participate in the work of a politically motivated international court.

The head of government said that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will present in parliament a bill on the denunciation of the Rome Statute on April 3, after which the country will officially withdraw from the ICC.

Break ranks: EU split over Ukraine intensifies

Because of this, Brussels may change the decision-making procedure.

Earlier, on April 1, the international human rights organization Amnesty International called on Hungary to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who will visit the country at the invitation of his Hungarian counterpart. According to the organization, the Hungarian prime minister stated that he would not execute the warrant issued by the ICC, although as a member state of the European Union, the country is obliged to do so.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant on November 21, 2024. The court ruled that the two politicians were responsible for war crimes against the civilian population. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Estonia expressed their willingness to comply with this court decision, while the United States and France opposed it.