New Delhi, Sep 11 (EFE).- Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday that he will review his country’s position on the arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin issued by the International Criminal Court, of which his country is a signatory, after assuring that the Russian president would not be arrested in Brazilian territory.
“The role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (which imposed the arrest warrant against Putin) needs to be reviewed….I am going to study this matter,” he said at a press conference in New Delhi, when asked whether the Russian president could be arrested if he decides to attend next year’s G20 summit in Brazil.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president in March over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, after which Putin has been absent from several high-level meetings, such as the recent summit of the BRICS blocs – made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) – in the African country.
Lula, who received the G20 presidency from India on Sunday, hoped that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin would attend the next G20 summit to be held in Brasilia in November 2024.
“I don’t know why President Xi and President Putin didn’t come. We will invite them, we hope they will participate,” he said.
Putin did not take part in the New Delhi summit over the weekend, although the reasons for his absence have not been explained since India has neither signed nor ratified the Rome Statute, which established the ICC.
Up to 123 countries, including Brazil, have signed the Rome Statute and another 30 have signed it, but have not ratified it.
“The United States is not a signatory to the ICC, Russia has not signed the ICC, India is not a signatory to the ICC…Why have we signed the treaty?” the Brazilian president asked.
This is the first time in history that the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for the president of a member country of the UN Security Council.
Lula’s remarks come after the G20 leaders’ summit, which concluded on Sunday, a day after the member countries agreed to a joint agreement.
If consensus had not been reached, the New Delhi summit would have been the first without a joint agreement since the first leaders’ meeting in the US in 2008.EFE
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