“No one raises the question first. How should we explain to our people a country’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, which caused applause for the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant (for the Russian president – BNS) Vladimir Putin?” – the head of state said to LRT television on Monday.
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“Now to talk about withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, when 27 European Union members are part of it, is a completely hard-to-understand action,” he asserted.
According to the president, if the fate of the ICC were to arise, states would still need to agree on the regulation of matters currently under the court’s jurisdiction.
Based on his sources in Washington, the public broadcaster reported last week that US officials conveyed to Lithuania that the ICC issue is especially relevant to countries hosting American troops, although they did not directly threaten to withdraw troops if Lithuania remains a member of the court.
American officials expressed concern about the arrest warrant issued by the court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US officials question how countries that have signed the Rome Statute and host American troops will comply with the obligations of the host country.
BNS reported that the United States has for some time been campaigning against the ICC and urging allies to withdraw from its jurisdiction.
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The diplomatic and political pressure initiated in mid-July against the Hague court by America is based on the latter’s “unjustifiable threat to US sovereignty.”
Relations between the US and the court based in The Hague have been strained since the first term of US President Donald Trump, and some ICC judges are already subject to US sanctions.
Washington is angered by the fact that the Hague court, although effectively frozen, has not formally closed investigations into alleged torture and war crimes by US soldiers and the CIA in Afghanistan and secret prisons in Europe.
Established in 2002, the ICC is responsible for prosecuting perpetrators of the world’s most serious crimes when states lack the will or ability to do so themselves.
Lithuania joined the Rome Statute in 2003. Currently, 125 countries worldwide have ratified the Rome Statute.
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