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Immunities for BRICS participants in South Africa not to override international warrants

On March 17, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, alleging that they were responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children

PRETORIA, May 30. /TASS/. Diplomatic immunities that South African authorities intend to provide to the participants of the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting in June and BRICS Summit in August do not cancel out any warrant issued by an international court with regard to any participant, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Tuesday.

"This is a standard conferment of immunities that we do for all international conferences and summits held in South Africa irrespective of the level of participation. The immunities are for the conference and not for specific individuals. They are meant to protect the conference and its attendees from the jurisdiction of the host country for the duration of the conference. These immunities do not override any warrant that may have been issued by any international tribunal against any attendee of the conference," the agency said on its page on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as an extremist organization).

Earlier, the foreign policy agency published a document saying that South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor was guaranteeing diplomatic immunity to the participants of the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting to be held in Cape Town on June 1-2 and BRICS summit to be held in Johannesburg on August 22-24.

On April 28, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa established an interagency committee to examine the country’s relations with the International Criminal Court (ICC). South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile was appointed to chair the committee. On May 3, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said that the government was considering domesticating the Rome Statute so that visiting foreign heads of state could enjoy customary diplomatic immunity.

On March 17, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, alleging that they were responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. When commenting on the decision, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that Russia did not recognize the ICC. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the decisions of the ICC had no bearing for Russia whatsoever, while any potential arrest warrants would be legally void.

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