Pretoria - South Africa withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC) because of Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, Advocate Max du Plessis, acting for the South African Litigation Centre said on Monday.
Du Plessis is supporting the DA’s application to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, in which it is asking that government’s decision to withdraw from the ICC, be overturned.
He said the situation when al Bashir visited South Africa created this situation, as government was obliged in terms of the Rome Stature to arrest him, but it wanted to avoid this.
The Sudanese president is wanted by the ICC for alleged human rights abuses and it called on South Africa to arrest the president when he was in the country.
Du Plessis said while government protected al Bashir, it withdrew its support to the thousands of victims in crime in African countries. Government said there were other avenues open to obtain justice for victims, such as through the African Court, but this is irrational, du Plessis said, as this court did not have criminal jurisdiction.
He said there is not substitute in law to replace the ICC, in spite of what Government is saying.
Advocate Anton Katz meanwhile applied for the Council of the Advancement of the SA Constitution to enter the fray as an applicant. He also fully supported the applicant of the DA and said Government’s notice that it was withdrawing from the ICC had to be revoked without delay.
Arguments on behalf of government is expected to start on Monday afternoon and to run into Tuesday.