'Deploying flimsy arguments': DA welcomes ruling on Putin arrest affidavit

19 July 2023 - 09:47
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The DA welcomed a high court ruling ordering President Cyril Ramaphosa to publish his answering affidavit in the case related to the arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The DA welcomed a high court ruling ordering President Cyril Ramaphosa to publish his answering affidavit in the case related to the arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Image: Freddy Mavunda

The DA has welcomed a high court ruling ordering President Cyril Ramaphosa to publish his answering affidavit in the case related to the arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In May, the official opposition party launched an application in the Gauteng High Court requesting a declaration that if Putin arrives in South Africa to attend the Brics summit later this year the government must detain and surrender him to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC issued a warrant of arrest against him for war crimes allegedly committed during his country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ramaphosa filed a confidential affidavit in response to the DA's application. The affidavit has now been made public after the court ruled it, along with the DA’s replying affidavit and other documents, should be disclosed without qualification.

“Deploying flimsy arguments which allege the Russian Federation would declare war on South African should we arrest Putin are little more than straw man arguments when the constitutional principle and domestic and international law make the merits of this case crystal clear,” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.

“What is comical about the president’s affidavit is his claim that refusing to arrest Putin would disregard the sovereignty of the Russian Federation, when the South African government, in its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, showed little concern for the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state.”

Steenhuisen said the DA believes the public interest in this matter overrides government’s attempts at supposed confidentiality.

“This is especially given the enormous implications for South Africans that hinge on government’s decision on this matter, including South Africa’s standing on the international stage should there be a repeat of the circumstances that surrounded the visit of Omar al-Bashir where South Africa failed in its statutory obligation to its own foreign policy and an instruction by the ICC.”

Steenhuisen said the DA looks forward to the merits of the matter being argued in open court.

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