ACTIONSA says the South African government has a legal obligation to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin should he visit South Africa for the 15th BRICS summit in August.
Putin is scheduled to attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Pretoria in August, and International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor has confirmed that he was invited.
Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest for Putin for alleged war crimes after evidence was found that the Russian president was complicit in illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia.
The ICC said in a media statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
The move was dismissed by Moscow but welcomed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said his party will monitor the South African government’s stance on Putin’s upcoming visit.
“We will not stand idly by should our government again decide to abandon its constitutional mandate to uphold our laws,” said Mashaba.
“We cannot allow the country further dips into lawlessness at the expense of the ANC’s immoral relationship with Russia.”
Mashaba said as one of the first countries to ratify the Rome Statute in 2000, South Africa helped establish the ICC.
The country went a step beyond by codifying the statute in local legislation when it passed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002.
“Pursuant to this legislation, and our obligations under international law, the South African government has no choice but to arrest Putin should he decide to attend the BRICS summit in August, to which he will apparently be invited, according to Minister Pandor,” said Mashaba.
“This obligation to arrest those with an ICC warrant was confirmed by judgements handed down in the North Gauteng High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeals after the government failed to arrest Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir in June 2015. South Africa’s obligations under international law were further confirmed by a judgement handed down by the ICC in 2017.”
A few years ago, South Africa drew international criticism in 2015 when it refused to execute an ICC arrest warrant for then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir while he was attending an African Union summit in the country.
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said Putin is welcome to visit Pretoria in August.
Malema accused the ICC of hypocrisy and urged the government not to give in to pressure from the international court.
“Putin is welcome here, and no one is going to arrest Putin. If need be, we are going to fetch Putin from the airport, take him to his meeting where he will address and finish his meetings, and we will take him back to the airport,” Malema told reporters in Johannesburg.
“We are not going to be told by these hypocrites of the International Criminal Court who know the real violators of human rights, the murderers of this world.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said while the government has noted the warrant issued by the ICC, the country maintains that the conflict in Ukraine can be resolved through peaceful means.
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