“South Africa Grants Putin Diplomatic Immunity: Controversial Move and International Reactions”

Il South Africa granted thediplomatic immunity to the exponents of the BRICS countries attending the summit of foreign ministers this week and the summit of heads of state in August. In the event that the South African government’s decision does not also change the Russian president, Vladimir Putinthe subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine, could potentially qualify for this condition. The main South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance party (DA), has announced that it will present a exposed to court to ensure the local executive arrests the head of the Kremlin and hands him over to the ICC,”if President Putin were to set foot in South Africa“.

South Africa’s move

The South African Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandorannounced that immunity will be granted to all international officials involved in events related to the BRICS (Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa) summit in South Africa.

The Chief of the South African Armed Forces (SANDF), Cut the Crushes“has stated that it will not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin” if he were to arrive in the country on the occasion of the BRICS summit, wrote the website of a large South African private broadcaster, sistancesummarizing statements made by the military.

In a video relaunched on Twitter by the same TV, the general says that “the Defense Forces are in no condition to arrest him“: “these are the prerogatives of Minister (of Justice, Ronald) Lamola and of Minister (of Police, Bheki) Cele because the police arrest and Minister Lamola interprets the law and directs“.

Diplomatic immunity for Putin

As reported by Cbs NewsSouth Africa’s controversial move would be an attempt to pave the way for Putin, allowing him to travel to the country without any problems whatsoever, despite the fact that the CPI, last March, issued a arrest warrant on his account for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

The point is, South Africa is one of the signatories of the Rome Statute and, therefore, it should be obliged to arrest the Russian president, if and when he sets foot in the country. However, the South African government seems to be looking for a way to circumvent this obligation and, according to some sources, is even examining the wording of the Rome Statute, the charter that established the ICC itself, to find a possible loophole that would allow Putin to attend the summit.

We recall that thearticle 98 of the Rome Statute of the ICC states that the Court cannot proceed with a request for surrender or assistance which would compel a State to act contrary to its obligations”under international law in relation to the state or diplomatic immunity of a person of a third state, unless the Court can first obtain the cooperation of that third state in waiving the immunity“.

A controversial decision

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov limited himself to saying that Russia will “duly represented” at the BRICS summit, without specifying whether or not Putin will participate in the event. Moscow “assumes, of course” that its partners Brics “they will not be led“yes”illegitimate decisions”, namely the ICC arrest warrant, he added.

Meanwhile, the South African opposition has turned to a court to force the executive to arrest the Kremlin leader should he set foot in the African country. “These immunities do not void an arrest warrant issued by an international tribunal against any conference attendee“, the Foreign Ministry defended itself on Tuesday morning.

The district attorney explains that he has started ajudicial instance “preventive” to ensure that the government “fulfills its obligations“and hand Putin over to the ICC should he come to South Africa. None”judicial ambiguityshould persist, the statement said.