MOSCOW, Nov 16 (KUNA) -- Russia has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), alleging that the court failed to become a truly independent international judicial body.
The court has not justified the expectations associated with it failing to become a truly independent international judicial body, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Our country was one of the originators of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials. It took part in drafting the basic documents on combating such serious international crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. For that very reason, Russia voted for the Rome Statute and signed it on September 13, 2000," the statement added.
The court's inefficient and one-sided work in the cases investigated by it has been noted at various venues, including the UN General Assembly and Security Council, it said. It is indicative that during the 14 years of its work, the ICC passed just 4 sentences spending more than USD 1 billion, it noted.
Russia understands the African Union's initiative, which decided to develop coordinated measures for African continent countries' withdrawal from the Rome Statute, it concluded. (end) as.hm