President Lula Says Brazil Will Review Accession to the International Criminal Court, Regarding G20 Presidency?

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (Wikimedia Commons/Senado Federal)

JAKARTA - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday there was a need to review his country's access to the International Criminal Court (ICC), while other countries such as the United States, China, and India had not yet done so.

Brazil is known to be one of the signatory countries to the Rome Statute which was the forerunner to the founding of the ICC.

"I want to know why the US, India, and China did not sign the ICC agreement and why our country signed it," said President Lula, reported by Reuters, September 11.

President Lula last weekend received the G20 Presidency on behalf of Brazil from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Next year, Brazil will host the G20 summit, one of whose members is Russia.

The ICC itself is known to have issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last March, accusing him of committing war crimes by illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

Responding to these accusations, Russia denied that its troops were involved in war crimes or forcibly taking Ukrainian children.

President Putin is known to have missed the last two G20 summits in Bali (Indonesia) and New Delhi (India) since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia was represented at these two events by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The decision, whether President Putin will be arrested or not if he attends next year's G20 summit in Brazil will depend on the country's courts, President Lula said in New Delhi.

"If Putin decides to join (next year's summit), then it will be up to the courts to decide (on possible arrest) and not my government," said President Lula.

Earlier on Saturday he said in an interview with the First Post news program that it was "unlikely" that President Putin would be arrested if he attended next year's G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.