Amnesty International has entered the fray in the International Criminal Court saga involving Russian president Vladimir Putin by joining as friends of the court in the opposition’s application calling for the arrest of Putin.
The official opposition has taken President Cyril Ramaphosa to court saying South Africa was obliged to arrest Putin when he attends the BRICS summit in August.
The summit is scheduled to take place from August 22-24 in Sandton and heads of state from Brazil, India, Russia and China are expected to attend it.
Ramaphosa has filed answering papers in court where he argued that it would be a declaration of war against Russia if South Africa tried to arrest Putin.
But Amnesty International said the country has an obligation under international law to arrest the Russian leader.
“As a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, South Africa has a duty to arrest and surrender president Putin to the court if he sets foot in the country. South Africa adopted the Implementation Act which provided a framework for the implementation of the Rome Statute in the country,” said Amnesty International.
If Pretoria failed to arrest Putin it would be in breach of its obligations under international law.
Justice and Correctional Minister Ronald Lamola told the UN this week in New York that the ICC must be fair and balanced in its prosecution of cases.
He said there has been selective prosecution as cases in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq have not been addressed by the ICC.
Lamola was speaking at an event to mark 25 years since the ICC was established.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan also spoke out against human rights abuses in conflicts and said South Africa was one of the first countries to sign on to the Rome Statute under late statesman Nelson Mandela.
Amnesty International said they have been monitoring the situation in Ukraine where there have been human rights violations.
“As an amicus curiae, we intend to make submissions on South Africa’s obligations under international and domestic law. We will also draw on our organisation’s own research and reports into the situation in Ukraine as they relate to this particular case,” said Amnesty International.
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