Wednesday, February 7 2024 17:43

ArmInfo. Work is underway in Armenia to collect and summarize the facts of crimes committed by  Azerbaijanis against the Armenian people for submission to the International Criminal Court, RA Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan stated on February 7 during government hour in Armenia's Parliament  in response to MP from the opposition faction Armenia Artur Khachatryan.

According to the minister, despite the fact that the Rome Statute  came into force for Armenia in just 7 days, nevertheless, work in  which both specialists from the Ministry of Justice and employees of  the office of the RA Representative on International Legal Affairs  are involved is being carried out in this direction 2-3 months. A  draft package of laws has already been prepared, which is based on  the idea of bringing the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes into  compliance with international criminal law. This will provide an  opportunity to take advantage of international criminal and, in  particular, investigative experience, and this will improve the  mechanisms for improvement in conducting investigations into war  crimes.

In response, Arthur Khachatryan asked a direct question: will the  Armenian government insist in the International Criminal Court on  bringing to criminal responsibility personally the President of  Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the main organizer of the Armenian genocide.

To this, the minister noted that it is possible to repeat the word  "personally" 100 times on an emotional note, but the government of  the country is guided solely on the basis of legal acts that can  attract foreign experts to appeal to the ICC. And when violations are  recorded, this process is set in motion.

On February 1, Armenia officially became a member of the  International Criminal Court (ICC). In November 2023, the ICC  announced that Armenia, as of February 1, 2024, will become the 124th  state party to accede to the Rome Statute and the 19th state from the  Eastern European group.  The Chair of the Delegation for relations  with the South Caucasus at the European Parliament MEP Marina  Kaljurand congratulated Armenia on officially joining the  International Criminal Court (ICC).  "Sincere congratulations to  Armenia on formally joining the International Criminal Court on 1  February 2024," Kaljurand said in a post on X. "A clear signal of the  country's commitment to the rule of law and a great basis for  EU-Armenia cooperation."