South Africa’s government would have Russian President Vladimir Putin arrested if he entered the country. This emerges from an affidavit by the Ministry of Justice published by the opposition party Democratic Alliance. However, South Africa and Russia announced on Thursday that Putin would not be traveling to South Africa for a Brics summit of the economically strongest emerging countries in August. Until then it had remained open.
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.
