Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda assured that Lithuania was not considering withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), LRT reports. He insisted that any talk of leaving the ICC was “completely difficult to comprehend.” Earlier, the US urged allied countries, including Lithuania, to withdraw or distance themselves from the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, LRT reported. US officials asserted that the issue was particularly important for countries hosting US troops. Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said that it was reviewing an informal US diplomatic paper on the ICC issue and was working with EU partners on a coordinated response, BNS reported. The ministry reiterated the EU’s support for the “universality, integrity, and full implementation” of the Rome Statute. Lithuania joined the ICC in 2003.
Meanwhile, Nauseda’s chief national security adviser, Deividas Matulionis, insisted that the ICC issue and decisions on US military deployments were “completely separate issues.” He pointed out that bilateral agreements already provided guarantees that US service members stationed in Lithuania could not be transferred to the jurisdiction of third countries or international organisations. The US has objected also to ICC investigations of secret CIA detention facilities in Europe. Earlier, Lithuania’s Office of Intelligence Ombudspersons (ZKI) refused to open an investigation into a secret CIA prison that operated in Lithuania in 2005-2006, BNS reported. ZKI stated that there was no new information that would warrant an investigation. Justice Minister Rita Tamasuniene claimed that no such prison had existed in Lithuania.