Brazil’s judiciary would decide whether to arrest Russian leader Vladimir Putin if he visits the country for next year’s G20 summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on 11 September, according to CNN.
“If Putin decides to join, it is the judiciary’s power to decide and not my government,” he told reporters in New Delhi during this year’s G20 summit.
In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
Putin will not attend BRICS summit to avoid ICC arrest warrant
Lula’s latest account deviated from his earlier statement made on 9 September when he said that Putin would not be arrested should he come to Brazil.
“I think Putin can easily go to Brazil. I can tell you that if I am president of Brazil and he comes to Brazil, there is no way he will be arrested,” Lula da Silva said earlier in New Dehli.
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