24 October 2016, 15:44 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On October 21, South Africa submitted a notice to the UN secretary-general requesting to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the ICC. South Africa is the first country to give notice to withdraw membership from the ICC since the court was created in 1998. Gambia announced its decision to leave the court on Tuesday.
"We respect the decision of the respective countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court… China supports the international community's efforts to combat international crime and promote peace and judicial justice. At the same time, we insist that the ICC must respect the sovereignty of separate states and other principles of the international law," Kang said.
The ICC, which started work in July 2002, has 124 member states and is the only permanent international judicial structure empowered to hear cases of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
