South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has submitted a confidential affidavit responding to the opposition party Democratic Alliance's (DA) court application on how the government should deal with an ICC arrest warrant for the Russian leader in the run-up to this year's BRICS summit.
However, according to the president's spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, the content of the president's affidavit is confidential in accordance with the Rome Statute, a treaty that established the ICC and governs its business.
"The respondents are obliged by international law to keep the interactions with the ICC on the warrant of arrest against President Putin confidential. The ICC requires the fact of the request for cooperation to be kept confidential. To date, there has been no relaxation of the requirement of confidentiality by the ICC," he is quoted as saying by local media.
Ramaphosa responded to the DA's court case, in which the party asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to declare that South Africa, as a signatory to the ICC, has a duty to arrest the Russian president and surrender him to the international tribunal if he comes to the August meeting of BRICS heads of state.
The president's affidavit was expected to shed some light on the government's position on its obligations set forth in the Rome Statute. The government missed the 23 June deadline to file an official response to the case, asking for a three-day extension.
The presidential spokesman confirmed Ramaphosa's response to the DA’s court case, stressing that the president is obliged to keep his affidavit confidential. He also noted that, as of now, the government is beyond weighing up legal solutions to the issue of the Russian president's visit to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, adding that a final decision will soon be announced by President Ramaphosa.
In mid-March, the Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, citing the alleged illegal transfer of children from the combat zone in Ukraine to Russia.
Commenting on this decision, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's press secretary, noted that Moscow doesn't recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. The Russian side has also repeatedly noted that the accusations are false, with the children in fact being relocated voluntarily from the combat zone and returned once their homes are safe again.
The issue of relations between South Africa and the ICC is becoming particularly topical in the light of the approaching BRICS summit, to which the leaders of all participating states are invited, including the Russian leader. In April, South African President Ramaphosa set up an interdepartmental committee to study the country's interaction with the ICC. He emphasized that all decisions about the ICC will be made before the summit.
In May, South Africa's largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, filed a lawsuit with a court in the capital province of Gauteng demanding that it issue a ruling to oblige the government to comply with the ICC's demand for Putin's arrest, if such a request were made.
Last month, on the sidelines of the BRICS ministerial meeting held in Cape Town, South Africa, Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor confirmed that the country is fully aware of its obligations to the ICC, highlighting that it is trying to resolve this matter. According to the minister, South African authorities are working on legal options to resolve the issue of Putin's visit to the BRICS summit, scheduled to be held between 22 and 24 August.