PRETORIA, July 20. /TASS/. Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, has extended his stay in Russia while awaiting a decision from the South African government about the recent Constitutional Court ruling ordering his return to prison to serve out his sentence, the News-24 news website reported on Thursday.

The report said Zuma was slated to come from Russia, where he is undergoing medical treatment, to his homeland on July 19, before he extended his stay. Zuma is currently in Moscow, according to the website.

Zuma left South Africa for Russia for medical treatment days before the Constitutional Court ruled on July 13 that the former president should return to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence. The court had found the former president guilty of contempt of court in the summer of 2021, sentencing him to 15 months in prison. He began serving his sentence on July 8, 2021. However, Zuma was transferred to a Defense Ministry hospital on August 6, where he underwent surgery on August 15. On September 5, the Department of Correctional Services ordered the former president to be granted parole due to his health condition. Thus, Zuma spent a little more than a month in prison and just under a month in the hospital.

Mzwanele Manyi, a spokesperson for the Jacob G Foundation, said previously that Zuma would stay in Russia until doctors allowed him to return home. Zuma’s ailment hasn’t been disclosed. The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa asked President Cyril Ramaphosa on July 18 to pardon the 81-year-old Zuma for his service to the republic.

The Constitutional Court’s judgment against Zuma is not the only court case involving the former president. The Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg is currently hearing Zuma's corruption case. Numerous court cases against Zuma, which began in 2005, have been dropped and reopened. The politician was elected president of South Africa in May 2009 and was re-elected for a second term in the spring of 2014. However, he was forced to resign in February 2018 under the pressure of fresh allegations of corruption. He was succeeded as head of state by Ramaphosa, a member of the same political party.