The Hungarian parliament has passed a bill to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

The parliament’s website reported on Tuesday that 134 members of parliament voted in favour of the move, 37 voted against and seven abstained.

The Hungarian government announced its intention to withdraw from The Hague-based court at the beginning of April when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Budapest at the invitation of his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán.

Mr Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC on charges of alleged war crimes committed by Israeli troops against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Mr Orbán had made it clear before the visit that Hungary would ignore the arrest warrant.

Mr Orbán and other members of the government justified the planned withdrawal from the ICC with the arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and a former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant.

“This court has been degraded to a political tool,” Orbán claimed in the presence of his visitor Mr Netanyahu.

Hungary would be the first and only EU country to leave the ICC.

All 27 EU countries are currently among the 125 signatories to the founding document of the ICC.

Immediately after the parliamentary vote, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that Budapest would shortly inform UN Secretary General António Guterres of its intention to withdraw from the court.

The withdrawal from the ICC is expected to take effect in a year’s time.

(dpa/NAN)