Armenian Prime Minister explains reasons for joining Rome Statute

Armenia started the process of joining the Rome Statute in December 2022, and that decision was conditioned by the assessment of changes in the country’s security environment, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with The Telegraph.

“First of all, I want to say that the Republic of Armenia started the process of joining the Rome Statute in December 2022, and that decision was conditioned by the assessment of changes in our security environment. We ratified the Rome Statute, among other things, analyzing the consequences of the September 2022 war and noting that there are some cracks in our security system. In that sense, we also ratified the Rome Statute as an additional factor to increase Armenia's security level. I understand that it was a difficult time period, and we made that decision because it was a difficult period. That decision serves to increase the security level of Armenia,” Pashinyan said when asked about Armenia’s decision to join the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court.

The Telegraph’s Roland Oliphant asked the Armenian PM whether the country would enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to visit Armenia. “As for the legal nuances, I can't carry out a legal analysis right now because that's the job of lawyer,” PM Pashinyan responded. “I think, as I said, Armenia as a responsible state should adhere to all its international commitments, including the commitments it has in relations with the Russian Federation, the commitments it has in relations with the international community. By the way, there are various opinions and legal analyzes on that topic, and in particular, the lawyers who say that the current heads of state have immunity, insurmountable immunity, due to their status are not just a few. I mean, it's a legal issue, not a political issue that I have to discuss and respond to.”

“Since 2018, many large-scale democratic reforms have started in Armenia, and I do not make decisions about who should be arrested and who should not be arrested. There is an established legal order in Armenia, there are legal institutions, and in all cases the legal institutions of Armenia are the ones who make such decisions. For that we have the Prosecutor's Office, we have courts, we have the Investigative Committee and so on. It is very important that, being a member of the Eastern Partnership, the Republic of Armenia stands out especially for institutional reforms of having an independent judicial system. There is rule of law in the Republic of Armenia, the Prime Minister has his powers in the Republic of Armenia. Under no circumstances those powers include the solution of the question whether this person should be arrested or not. All of that is done through legal procedures,” the Armenian PM added.