PUTRAJAYA, April 5 (Bernama) — Prime Minister Dr Tun Mahathir Mohamad today announced that Malaysia will withdraw from Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) following confusion arising politically and within the society, stressing that the decision is not because the Statute is harmful to the country.
He said Malaysia, which acceded to the Rome Statute on March 4, and the instrument on accession that was deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the same day, can be withdrawn before June this year.
The decision to withdrawfrom the Statute was made collectively at the Cabinet meeting today, Dr Mahathir told in a press conference here.
The ICC was established in 2002 and governed by the Rome Statute.
The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court, with the objective to end impunity against the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.
-BERNAMA
