SA government commits to arresting Vladimir Putin if he sets foot in country

The North Gauteng High Court has heard that South Africa’s National Director for Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi received a formal request from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to issue a warrant to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he sets foot in South Africa.

This was revealed in a brief hearing in North Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria on Friday to force government to commit to arresting Putin.

According to an affidavit filed on Thursday by the Director-General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Advocate Doctor Mashabane, the department formally requested the NDPP to issue a warrant of arrest for Putin.

The DA went to court to force government to commit to its obligations, under the Rome Statute, to execute an arrest warrant for Putin issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It launched the application to clarify government’s obligations and to try set a precedent to avoid a repeat of a situation in 2015 involving former Sudanese leader, Omar al-Bashir, the party said.

Court order

The ICC confirmed “all state parties, including the Republic of South Africa, are obligated to arrest President Putin in terms of the ICC’s arrest warrant and request for co-operation”, the court order said.  

The court also heard that by mutual agreement of all parties, the matter will no longer proceed since Putin won’t be visiting South Africa.

“In light of [these] facts, the matter no longer needs to proceed,” the order read.

The Department of Justice further agreed to pay the costs of the legal application which was launched by the DA compelling President Cyril Ramaphosa to execute an ICC warrant of arrest for Putin.

No Putin for Brics

The South African Presidency on Wednesday confirmed Putin will not be attending the summit in August and Russia would instead be represented by its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

DA leader John Steenhuisen said the party’s “sustained political and legal pressure to ensure compliance with our country’s international obligations, the government formally initiated the process to arrest Vladimir Putin should he set foot on our soil”.

Virtual Brics

While Putin won’t be attending the Brics summit in South Africa in person, he will participate remotely from the comfort of the Kremlin via video link.

This is according to Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as reported by state-controlled international news outlet RT.

Putin’s contribution to the gathering next month will be “comprehensive” despite its remote nature, Peskov said.

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