Middle East Monitor / November 29, 2024
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, yesterday rejected France’s claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have diplomatic immunity and therefore cannot be arrested following the issuance of arrest warrants against them by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday that certain leaders could have immunity under the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the ICC.
Barrot highlighted that the Rome Statute “deals with questions of immunity for certain leaders,” adding that such matters ultimately rest with judicial authorities.
Asked whether this claim has any legal validity, Albanese said: “No, because it’s been already resolved by the court in the case of Omar al-Bashir in the past, and no one [argued].”
Al-Bashir is the former president of Sudan who was indicted by the ICC in 2009 and 2010 for war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians in Darfur.
“The argument of state immunity cannot be made. The court has already said it,” Albanese said.
She underlined that hindering the enforcement of an ICC arrest warrant could be considered a violation of Article 70 of the Rome Statute.
“I want to point to the fact that obstructing the execution of an ICC arrest warrant could be seen as a breach of Article 70, an obstruction to the administration of justice, which is an offense, a criminal offense in itself,” she said.
She also described France’s contradictory approaches toward the warrant against Netanyahu and the one issued against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin back in March 2023 – a non-party state – as “double standards”.
