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According to this article about Netanyahu visiting Hungary, ICC signatory states are technically supposed to arrest Netanyahu if he visits their country, but some have said they would and some have said they wouldn't.

Does the same apply to overflights? Hungary is landlocked and all the surrounding countries are ICC signatories. Would he have had to fly over countries that had said they won't enforce the warrant? Or at least validate that they were ok with an overflight even if they would arrest him if he landed?

Jen
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Ganesh Sittampalam
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1 Answers1

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From the Rome Statute:

Article 59: Arrest proceedings in the custodial State

  1. A State Party which has received a request for provisional arrest or for arrest and surrender shall immediately take steps to arrest the person in question in accordance with its laws and the provisions of Part 9.

Thus, the possibility of ordering a flight to land for the purpose of executing the arrest warrant exists to the extent that it would exist in the same country under its own laws. If a country has a procedure for determining whether to order an overflying aircraft to land so it can arrest someone who is present on the aircraft, it should employ that procedure.

It is worthwhile to note that the existence of an arrest warrant is insufficient to create an obligation for any country to arrest anyone. Under the procedure specified in the statute, the obligation to cooperate that is specified in article 87, paragraph 7, arises only when a country is specifically requested to arrest the suspect as provided in Article 91.

phoog
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