South African authorities agree to issue arrest warrant for Putin

On 21 July, the government of South Africa admitted that it had not fulfilled its international obligations, refusing to immediately issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin if he entered the country. Source: European Pravda with reference to the South African edition of News24 Details: Back in May, the South African Ministry of Justice had received a warrant from the International Criminal Court and, as it has now admitted, should have immediately applied to the prosecutor's office for a national warrant for Putin's arrest.

Instead, they opted to initiate a consultation procedure with the court in The Hague. At this time, South African and Russian officials publicly stated that Putin could come to the BRICS summit in South Africa despite the ICC warrant (and South Africa is a party to the court and is obliged to comply with it).

In this regard, the opposition Democratic Alliance party went to court to oblige the authorities to apply for a warrant for Putin's arrest. On Friday, the court confirmed that the South African authorities did apply to the prosecutor's office for a warrant.

This means that now the President of Russia will be arrested if he decides to come to South Africa. The Democratic Alliance, commenting on the message published by the Gauteng court, said that it was public pressure that contributed to the fulfilment by the South African authorities of their obligations under the Rome Statute.

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Earlier: It was revealed that "by mutual agreement", the Russian president decided not to go to the BRICS summit in the Republic of South Africa, where he should have been arrested on the warrant of the International Criminal Court. Last week, information appeared that South Africa asked Russia to send Lavrov instead of Putin, but was denied. 

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