Zhoghovurd daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: The passions surrounding the Rome Statute [of the International Criminal Court], which caused an incident between the opposition and ruling MPs [in Armenia], do not subside.

As is known, on March 24, the RA Constitutional Court [(CC)] announced that the Rome Statute, which is the basis of the International Criminal Court, complies with the country's Constitution, and the government of Armenia can continue the process of ratifying the agreement.

After this circumstance, various statements were also made that with this move, Armenia is also going against the RF [(Russian Federation)], and [Russian President] Vladimir Putin will be arrested by order of the West, as soon as he enters Yerevan. However, according to the decision of the CC, the [Rome] convention is not considered ratified and cannot act at all.

And what's next? The thing is that, according to Article 116 of the RA Constitution, the National Assembly [(NA)] ratifies international treaties; that is, the Rome Statute cannot enter into force without the approval of the parliament. There are clear deadlines for sending it to NA; after the CC decision, the government of Armenia has three months to send the matter of ratification of the statute to the parliament. According to our information, at the moment the authorities do not have a final decision yet regarding the convention; at least the executive [branch of power] has not yet sent the statute to the legislative body.