The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber said in a statement that it will refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties.

The ICC issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest last November citing allegations of war crimes in the Gaza war.

Netanyahu paid an official visit to Hungary in April this year, the court noted, adding that the Hungarian authorities had failed to comply with a request the court made on March 21 for their cooperation in the provisional arrest of the Israeli prime minister. The court said it had invited Hungary for several consultations, but "the Hungarian state did not respond or request consultations."

It said the Hungarian government had argued that the reason why it had not complied with the court’s request was because it had "not adopted the necessary legislation that would allow its law enforcement agencies to do so".

The government had also cited Netanyahu’s "state immunity" under international law, and argued that the arrest warrant against Netanyahu "cannot be regarded as an impartial and objective legal act", the statement said.

But the court said "the absence or inadequacy of implementing domestic legislation cannot justify non-compliance with States Parties’ obligations under the Statute", and immunity did not apply in this case.

"The obligation to cooperate was sufficiently clear to Hungary," the court said, adding that "failure to arrest suspects severely undermines the Court’s ability to carry out its mandate."
 

"As a State Party to the Statute, Hungary accepted to be bound by the Court’s decisions and cannot unilaterally decide whether or not to comply with requests for cooperation on the basis of its views and opinions about some of those decisions," the statement said.

The court noted that though Hungary announced its intention to leave the Rome Statute system last month, the country’s withdrawal will only take effect on June 2, 2026, until which it is bound by the Statute.

The Pre-Trial Chamber said it will refer the matter of Hungary’s non-compliance to the Assembly of States Parties, which will decide on the next steps at its annual meeting in December.

Szijjarto: ICC’s decisions 'motivated by petty political revenge'

The International Criminal Court’s recently announced procedure against Hungary over its refusal to arrest the Israeli prime minister "is the clearest possible demonstration of the fact that the ICC has lost all its prestige", Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, said on Facebook.

This move by the ICC demonstrated that the court’s "decisions are motivated essentially only by petty political revenge", Szijjarto said, according to a ministry statement.

"Political goals and ideologies have no place in international tribunals," the minister said. "The ICC has just proven all of our concerns over the body’s impartiality and apolitical approach."

"This petty and weak step only vindicates our decision to withdraw from the court," Szijjarto said. "The International Criminal Court has irreversibly strayed from its original purpose and become a political body."

"But we believe international organisations cannot represent political interests; in fact it is these institutions that should provide the proper platform for negotiation between disputing parties," the minister said.

The ICC’s Pri-Trial Chamber on Friday said Hungary had failed to fulfill its obligation under the Rome Statute by not complying with the court's request concerning the warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's arrest.

 

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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