Armenia on Thursday formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“ICC Rome Statute officially entered into force for Armenia on February 1,” Armenia’s official representative for international legal matters, Yeghishe Kirakosyan told AFP.
“Joining the ICC gives Armenia serious tools to prevent war crimes and crimes against humanity on its territory,” Kirakosyan said.
“First of all, this concerns Azerbaijan,” he noted.
Armenia signed the Rome Statute in 1999 but did not ratify it, citing contradictions with the country’s constitution.
The constitutional court last March said that those obstacles had been removed after Armenia’s adoption of a new constitution in 2015.
Last November, Yerevan formally deposited its instrument of ratification of the Rome Statute.
