ICC to rule on South Africa’s failure to arrest Sudan’s Bashir

‘Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) will rule on Thursday on whether South Africa violated ICC rules by failing to arrest Sudan’s president during a 2015 visit to Johannesburg, in a case that will test international support for the court.
There is an outstanding ICC warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s arrest on genocide charges, which he denies.
Thursday’s ruling will be closely watched for its possible implications for Bashir and other sitting heads of state as well as for the court itself.
If the ICC rules that South Africa’s decision to let Bashir go was an act of non-compliance, the court could then either report Pretoria to the United Nations Security Council or to the ICC’s own member states. In either case, South Africa would only likely suffer the diplomatic setback of a court reprimand, rather than any further fine or sanction.
It is also possible that the court may accept South Africa’s argument that it was not obliged to implement the warrant.’
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