Hungarian top official says Putin will not be arrested if he comes to Hungary

Hungary will not arrest the Russian leader if he comes to the country, despite the arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Source: Reuters citing Gergely Gulyas, Chief of Staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, on 23 March, as reported by European Pravda Details: Gulyas noted that according to the Hungarian legal system, Budapest has no legal grounds to arrest the Russian president, although Hungary has signed and ratified the Rome Statute.

Asked whether Putin would be arrested if he came to Hungary, Gulyas said during a briefing that the Rome Statute is not built into the Hungarian legal system.

"We can refer to the Hungarian law and based on that we cannot arrest the Russian President ... as the ICC's statute has not been promulgated in Hungary," Gulyas said In fact, Hungary has only formally endorsed the Rome Statute but has not changed its legislation to implement it. Gulyas added that the Hungarian government had not formed a position on the arrest warrant for Putin but expressed its opinion on the topic.

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"These decisions are not the most fortunate as they take things towards further escalation and not towards peace, this is my personal subjective opinion," Gulyas added. Background: The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, finding him guilty of the illegal deportation of thousands of children from Ukraine. The warrant issuance means that Putin could be arrested if he travels to any member state of the International Criminal Court.

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