Police are working to have alleged paedophile Dirk Prinsloo returned to South Africa so he can face trial.
“There is a warrant out for his arrest, and we are engaging with the Belarus government with the assistance of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco),” said police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo.
He added there was no need to alert Interpol as Prinsloo was still in custody and unable to leave the country.
Prinsloo was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2009 for the attempted robbery of a bank in Belarus. He had failed to return to South Africa, from Russia, while out on bail.
Prinsloo is on parole in Belarus, and is being held in a cell in the country’s migration department.
An extradition law expert told the Saturday Star that usually, on completion of their sentence in another country, a South African offender was likely to be extradited back to their home country.
He did say Prinsloo was likely to be extradited following the end of his parole, unless the parole board in Belarus has made a specific condition that he stay in the country upon granting him parole.
The source also confirmed that there was no extradition treaty with Belarus, and that any extradition proceedings would have to be done through the justice minister, or his equivalent, from that country.
The former advocate and his former lover Cezanne Visser who became known as Advocate Barbie, were accused of taking children out of orphanages and sexually abusing them.
Visser was found guilty of 11 charges in February 2010 and sentenced to seven years behind bars. She was released on parole in August 2013.
A warrant for Prinsloo’s arrest was issued in 2006.
The Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mabaya said it had been informed of Prinsloo’s release.