South Africa is hosting a BRICS summit next month, which Putin is expected to attend.
Under an ICC arrest warrant issued in March, South Africa is formally required to take him into custody. However, Russia has made it ambiguous that Putin’s arrest would be a declaration of war, Cyril Ramaphosa said.
He clarified that Russia hinted to him about the negative consequences of Putin’s arrest on the warrant of the International Criminal Court if he arrives in August for the BRICS summit, writes local edition of The Daily Maverick.
Ramaphosa told this to the court in the South African city of Gauteng, which was considering granting Putin immunity from arrest. This statement was sent to the court in May, and the president insisted on its confidentiality. However, on Tuesday, the High Court of Gauteng, following a lawsuit filed by the opposition Democratic Alliance Party, ordered the release of Ramaphosa’s words, who said:
“Russia has made it clear that the arrest of its current president would be a declaration of war. It is against our constitution to take risks and go to war with Russia.”
He stressed in court that South Africa has begun consultations with the International Criminal Court on Article 97 of the Rome Statute – they are initiated in the event of a problem that “potentially could prevent or make it impossible to comply with the request of the ICC.”
As you know, South Africa ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin because of his involvement in the mass deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories. Despite this, President Ramaphosa has publicly stated that he expects the participation of the Russian President at the BRICS summit in August.
Not so long ago it became known that South Africa asked the Russian Federation to send Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the BRICS summit instead of Vladimir Putin, but was refused.
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