You’re under arrest: Will South Africa arrest Vladimir Putin? (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Oon March 17, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The court accused Putin, together with Maria Alexeyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Russian presidential office, of “illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainians (children) from the territory occupied by Ukraine to Russia”.
It follows a global campaign by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his sympathizers to hold Putin accountable for what they see as war crimes and crimes against humanity, in addition to violating Ukraine’s sovereignty.
As expected, the Russian government did not respond to the court’s arrest warrant. According to the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, “Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC and has no obligations under it.”
While Russia signed this statute in 2000, it never ratified and revoked the country’s signature in 2016. However, ICC president Piotr Hofmanski rejected Russia’s claim, arguing that “the court has jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of a state party or a state that has accept its authority”. Although Ukraine is not a member of the ICC, it has accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC. If there is an issue of an ICC arrest warrant, the subject can be detained and extradited if he travels to a member state.
In August this year, South Africa will host the Brics Summit which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Expected to take place in Durban. Because South Africa is a member of the ICC if, between now and then, this is Putin’s only foreign visit, and if he attends the summit, the ICC will expect South Africa to arrest Putin and hand him over to The Hague for trial.
It would not be the first time the South African government has faced such a predicament. In 2015, when Jacob Zuma was president, the court had an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. When Al-Bashir arrived in South Africa for the African Union summit, the ICC expected the country to arrest and extradite him. However, Zuma did not order troops to arrest him and Al-Bashir left South Africa after the summit. This comes amid growing discontent among African leaders over perceived ICC bias against the continent.
South Africa faced criticism for failing to make the arrests, with the ICC later ruling that the country had failed to fulfill its obligations to the court as a signatory. While South Africa tried to withdraw from the Rome Statute after the Al-Bashir controversy, the country remained a member of the ICC. The government may have to make another difficult decision – whether or not to arrest the Russian president and hand it over to the ICC if he comes to the country in August.
However, it is unlikely that he will be arrested, not only because of the strong ties between South Africa and Russia, but also because of questions about the legitimacy of the court and its perceived bias. Furthermore, the ruling ANC has a relationship with Russia that dates back to the colonial and apartheid era.
While the court condemned South Africa for not arresting Al-Bashir, it was not referred to the State Assembly of the Party or the United Nations Security Council, meaning that no punishment was carried out.
Time will tell whether Putin will attend, or send a delegation, to the summit. South African officials will be hoping for the latter as they have a tough decision to make when it comes to them. However, August is still a long way off; it remains to be seen what will happen between now and then.
Dr Siphumelele Duma is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation.