On the release of the International Criminal Court Officers from the detainment in Libya
On 2 July in the Libyan city of Zintan, the detained members of the International Criminal Court delegation were released, including Russian citizen, former career diplomat, A.G. Hodakov. As it is known, they had been arrested on 7 June 2012 after arriving there for a meeting with the arrested S. Gaddafi, a son of the former Libyan leader.
For the declaration of the decision taken by the Libyan side in Zintan, the heads of diplomatic missions of Russia, Spain, Lebanon, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Chairman of the ICC Sang-Hyun Song were invited. Libyan representatives put on record that the decision to release four ICC officers was reached as a goodwill gesture, thus confirming the commitment to the new Libya’s compliance with international norms and laws. It was noted, however, that on 23 July 2012 the hearing is scheduled at which the case will be given its final verdict without the presence of the accused.
All detained ICC officers were handed over to the ICC staff heads of diplomatic missions of their countries. On the same evening at 21.00 the released delegation members, together with the Chairman of the ICC, departed from Tripoli to Rome by airplane.
The Russian Embassy in Tripoli has undertaken direct and active participation in the combined efforts of representatives of the ICC and diplomats in Libya aimed at accelerating the release of detainees.
Moscow welcomes the decision taken by the Libyan authorities to release employees of the ICC. We expect that further proceedings taken by the Libyan side against the ICC delegation members will be processed in strict compliance with international law and, in particular, with the resolution 1970 of the United Nations Security Council.
Question (addressed to US Secretary of State John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov): After your recent discussions, including on Syria and the episode of detention of a US Embassy official in Moscow on a charge of espionage, do you think that your collective work is constructive? Sergey Lavrov (answers after John Kerry): Regarding the incident of the detention of a US Embassy official in Moscow that you have mentioned, everything, that the Russian party wished to say about it, was said yesterday in the comment of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. I have nothing to add.
Dear Mr Chairman,Dear colleagues, friends, First of all, I would like to thank our Swedish hosts for their hospitality, good organization of the today’s meeting and to congratulate Mr Carl Bildt with the results that were reached by the Arctic Council under Swedish chairmanship.
Today we sign the second in history legally binding panarctic document – Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic. This is another evidence of high responsibility of Arctic countries for the state of affairs in the region. The next is the preparation of the Agreement on Marine Oil Spill Prevention.
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