The South African government has announced it will grant diplomatic immunity to foreign leaders participating in the BRICS summit in August, although it underlines that this will not prevent the arrest of the Russian president, with an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.
South African Foreign Minister Grace Naledi Pandor has signed a note guaranteeing this immunity for participants in this week’s ministerial summit in Cape Town and for participants in the Johannesburg summit, August 22-24.
“In accordance with the powers conferred on me by Section 6(2) of the Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act 2011, I acknowledge that the BRICS Ministerial Meeting, to be held in Cape Town on Thursday and Friday, and the 15th BRICS summit, to be held in Johannesburg between August 22 and 24, are subject to the granting of immunities and privileges contemplated in Section 6(1)(a) of the said Act,” he underlined.
Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation spokesman Clayson Monyela underlined in a message on his Twitter account that this measure is “in South Africa” and in all countries “the norm” for conferences and international summits.
“Immunity is granted for the conference and not for specific individuals. It is intended to protect the conference and its participants under the jurisdiction of the host country for the duration of the conference. This immunity does not replace any orders that may be issued by international courts against conference participants,” he said.
Monyela reiterated in a subsequent post that “this immunity does not supersede any order issued by an international court, such as the ICC, against any of the participants.”
South Africa, a signatory to the Rome Statute, will be able to arrest Putin if he attends the summit, in accordance with the above-mentioned arrest warrant.
Meanwhile, the head of the South African military, Rudzani Maphwanywa, said this Tuesday that the armed forces would not arrest the Russian president if he traveled to the country for the BRICS summit, arguing that they do not have the power to do so. doing.
ICC Attorney General Karim Khan said in early May that he is confident South Africa will “do the right thing” and arrest Putin if he goes to the country, in line with the warrant issued for alleged war crimes related to with the forced deportation of Ukrainians. children to Russian territory from areas captured from Ukraine during the war.
South Africa is a member of the Rome Statute and will therefore be obliged to carry out the arrest, although in 2015 it avoided the arrest of Sudan’s then President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on the grounds that he had immunity as Head of State on the basis of an official visit.
Source: DN
