South Africa looks to grant Putin diplomatic immunity for BRICS summit despite outstanding ICC arrest warrant
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South Africa is looking for loopholes in the International Criminal Court's charter that may allow Russian President Putin to attend the BRICS summit in August.
Theoretically, any ICC member nation Putin travels to would be compelled to seize the Kremlin chief, though South Africa is apparently willing to skirt its international obligations, according to Russian press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
"Russia attaches enormous importance to the development of this format of integration. And Russia will take part in this summit at the proper level," he said during a Tuesday press conference. "Of course we count as a bare minimum on partner countries in such an important format not being guided by such illegal decisions."
Though Monyela also added that "these immunities do not override any warrant that may have been issued by any international tribunal against any attendee of the conference."
It remains unclear if Putin will actually be able to attend the summit set for later this summer, though South Africa has reportedly been looking into the wording of the Rome Statute – the ICC’s establishing charter – for any loopholes that would allow Putin to visit South Africa without the necessity to then arrest him.
In April, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa established an inter-ministerial committee to look into the language of the statute and how it must be applied.
Reports surfaced in late April suggesting that South Africa was considering leaving the ICC after the international court issued the arrest warrant for Putin, though Ramaphosa immediately walked back this threat, calling it an "error in a comment" made by his ruling party.
"South Africa remains a signatory to the Rome Statute and will continue to campaign for equal and consistent application of international law," he said in a statement on April 25.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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