Russian war of aggression
South Africa wants to carry out Putin’s arrest warrant upon entry
Russian President Vladimir Putin at an event as part of the 2019 Brics Summit in Brazil. Putin will not attend the meeting in South Africa. photo
© Eraldo Peres/AP/dpa
There is an arrest warrant from The Hague against the Kremlin chief for alleged war crimes. After much back and forth, South Africa positions itself on the subject. Meanwhile, Putin has no plans to travel there.
The Democratic Alliance, together with Amnesty International, had filed a lawsuit in the Pretoria High Court to force the government to arrest Putin if he were to enter the country. Amnesty International South Africa executive director Shenilla Mohamed called the statement a “victory for the rule of law and international justice, but most importantly for the victims in Ukraine”.
In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Since South Africa has signed the statutes of the ICC, the country is actually obliged to arrest Putin upon entry.
As of Thursday, the South African government had not made a clear position for months on whether it would actually carry out the arrest warrant. Instead, in June, the government even invited the Russian president to attend the Brics summit. The country on the southern tip of Africa was therefore under international pressure for months.