Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to withdraw Russia from the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes war crimes, crime against humanity and genocide.
“The court has not justified the hopes placed on it and has not become an independent, authoritative organ of international justice,”Russian foreign ministry said.
The decision came a day after the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee approved a resolution condemning Russia’s temporary occupation of Crimea and blamed Russia for discrimination against some Crimean citizens and “international armed conflict” between two countries (Russia and Ukraine).
Russia signed the Rome treaty, which established the Hague based International Criminal Court, in 2000 but never ratified it.
The Court is already facing a push back from African countries. South Africa, Gambia and Barundi also said in recent days that they would withdraw from the court as the court was a Western institution and biased against Africans.
Nine of the court’s ten pending investigations are in Africa.
The Hague based International Criminal Court was established in 1998 and has around 124 member states.
