United States imposed sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court

The United States imposed sanctions on high-ranking officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the court of “illegal attempts to subjugate Americans to their jurisdiction.”

The ICC in The Hague is currently investigating whether US troops have committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

The US has criticized the court since its inception and is one of a dozen states that have not signed.

Balkis Jarrah, a senior adviser to the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch, denounced the sanctions as “an embarrassing new minimum for the US commitment to justice for victims of the worst crimes.”

The move by Pompeo marked “a stunning perversion of US sanctions designed to punish rights violators and kleptocrats against war crimes prosecutors,” she tweeted.

Created under a UN treaty in 2002, the ICC investigates and prosecutes those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, intervening when national authorities are unable or unwilling to initiate criminal proceedings.

• What is the International Criminal Court?

The treaty has been ratified by 123 countries, including Great Britain. But the US – along with China, India, and Russia – refused to join, while some African countries accuse the body of being unfairly focused on Africans…

What are the sanctions?

President Donald Trump issued a decree in June, allowing the US to freeze the assets of ICC employees and prevent them from entering the country.

Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Pompeo said that Ms Bensuda and Fakiso Mochochoko, head of jurisdiction, complementarity and cooperation, should be sanctioned under the order.

Rejecting the ICC as “a completely broken and corrupt institution,” he said those who continue to “financially support these people also risk being sanctioned.”

The US Department of State also restricted the issuance of visas to ICC staff involved in “US personnel investigation efforts.”

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When President Trump issued his executive order in June, the ICC condemned what he called “further threats and coercive actions” against him.

“The attack on the ICC also constitutes an attack on the interests of the victims of atrocities, for many of whom the Court represents the last hope of justice.” his statement reads…

Who is Fatou Bensouda?

As a former Minister of Justice in the Gambia, her home country, Ms Bensouda was ideally placed to replace Luis Moreno-Ocampo as Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, as she served as his deputy throughout his term.

She also previously served as Senior Legal Adviser for the UN-backed tribunal that prosecuted the alleged leaders of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

While it expanded the ICC’s investigations to address conflicts elsewhere, which now angered the United States, Africa remained its primary focus. All ICC lawsuits have so far focused only on Africans – and Democratic Republic of Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga became the first person to be convicted of war crimes by the ICC in 2012.

But Ms Bensouda has also suffered a series of defeats, including acquitting former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo of war crimes charges in 2019 and dropping charges of crimes against humanity against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2014.

What is the ICC investigating?

The ICC began investigating alleged war crimes by the United States and other parties to the Afghan conflict earlier this year.

In accordance with ICC litigation, the court can issue an arrest warrant or a subpoena after prosecutors gather sufficient evidence and identify suspects. From there, they will decide if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

At the time, Pompeo promised to protect Americans from investigation, calling it “a truly spectacular act of an irresponsible political institution masquerading as a legal entity.”

A 2016 ICC report states that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the US military used torture. in secret detention facilities operated by the CIA.

• Afghanistan: a long road to peace
• The Afghan War: A Short and Long History

It is expected that the actions of the Taliban, Afghan government and US troops from May 2003 will be reviewed by the court.

Afghanistan is a member of the court, but officials there have also expressed opposition to the investigation.

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