Maître William Julié commented on the Sud Radio Vous Explique programme on the question of Benjamin Netanyahu’s immunity, invoked by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant.
The Ministry based its argument on Article 98 of the Rome Statute, which states that a State Party ‘may not be required to act in a manner inconsistent with its obligations under international law’, while Article 27 provides that ‘immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person under national or international law shall not prevent the Court from exercising jurisdiction over that person’.
This interpretation is not new, as several States have in the past refused to arrest a sitting head of state, such as South Africa or Jordan in the Al-Bechir case, or more recently Mongolia in the case of Vladimir Putin. However, the Court’s case law has been consistent since 2011 and was reaffirmed on 24 October 2024 in the case against Mongolia: Article 98 cannot be used to justify the refusal of States Parties to arrest all persons subject to an arrest warrant issued by the ICC, including sitting Heads of State.