The South African government has given its assurance that it will execute the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin if he ever sets foot in the country. The confirmation came after the Democratic Alliance (DA) approached the Gauteng High Court to compel the government to commit to arresting Putin.
Initially, the DA launched a legal application to ensure that government would arrest the Russian President if he were to attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg next month. The Department of Justice has not only agreed to comply with the ICC arrest warrant but has also undertaken to cover the costs of the DA’s legal application.
However, this week, the government announced that President Putin would not be physically traveling to South Africa for the BRICS summit and instead will participate in the event virtually. This decision renders the need for executing the arrest warrant during the summit moot.
