According to a deputy minister, South Africa intends to amend its laws to give it the authority to determine whether or not to detain a leader wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The comments made by Obed Bapela, a deputy minister in the South African presidency, were made in the midst of heated debate on whether South Africa will honour its invitation for Russian President Putin to visit in August.
Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, the ICC has issued an arrest order for Putin. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Putin in March, alleging that he committed war crimes, though Moscow has denied these claims.
He had already been invited by South Africa to the Brics summit. However, Russia has not yet confirmed Putin’s intention to attend the meeting. Pretoria’s foreign affairs department described its decision to offer diplomatic immunity to Russian officials in attendance as regular practice.
Obed Bapela stated on the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme that “we will be submitting the law in parliament” in June. He said that with the help of the law, South Africa “will give itself exemptions of who to arrest and who not to arrest.”
As a member of the ICC, South Africa is required by its current regulations to detain Putin if he enters its territory. But the African country stated that it wants to remain neutral and has declined to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to Bapela, South Africa is also requesting a waiver from the ICC in a letter. This is in reference to the Article 98 of the Rome Statute, the agreement that created the court in 2002.
Article 98 implies that the ICC could not request that South Africa arrest the Russian leader unless Russia consented to give up Putin’s immunity from prosecution, even if article 27 states that no one is exempt from prosecution by the ICC.
The nations that are a part of Brics, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, intent to make the ties between them more stronger.
