Because of possible war crimes in South Africa, Putin would be arrested upon entering
07/21/2023, 9:38 pm
South Africa’s government hesitated for a long time, but now it has to give in to the pressure: if Russian President Putin enters the country, the shackles must snap. He would then face charges of war crimes committed in Ukraine.
The South African government would arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he entered the country. That’s according to a Justice Department affidavit released by the opposition Democratic Alliance party. However, South Africa and Russia announced on Thursday that Putin would not travel to South Africa for a BRICS summit of economically stronger emerging countries in August. Until then it had remained open.
The Democratic Alliance, together with Amnesty International, filed a lawsuit in the Pretoria High Court to force the government to arrest Putin if he entered the country. Amnesty International’s Executive Director for South Africa, Shenilla Mohamed, called the statement a “victory for the rule of law and international justice, but most importantly for victims in Ukraine”.
In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. As South Africa signed the ICC statutes, the country is actually obliged to arrest Putin on entry.
Until Thursday, the South African government had not commented for months on whether it would actually comply with the arrest warrant. Instead, in June, the government even invited the Russian president to attend the BRICS summit. The country at the southern tip of Africa has therefore been under international pressure for months.