US sanctions ICC president and senior trial lawyer

Washington, United States. The United States imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.

The measures are the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against the Hague-based court.

Sanctions announcement

Rubio said the sanctions were imposed under a Trump executive order issued last year authorising measures against the ICC.

Akane is a Japanese judge and president of the court. Seye, a Senegalese national, is a senior trial lawyer at the ICC.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” Rubio said.

ICC response

The ICC condemned the measures, saying they undermine the rule of law.

“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the court said.

The ICC was established in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The United States is not a member of the court.

Previous measures

Seye is a senior trial attorney on the prosecution team that sought an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has also been nominated for election as an ICC judge.

Akane warned in December that US sanctions could rapidly undermine the court’s operations in all situations and cases and jeopardise its existence.

The United States imposed targeted sanctions last year on several ICC officials, including prosecutors and judges, citing the court’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as a past investigation into US troops in Afghanistan.

The sanctions freeze any US assets held by the individuals and cut them off from the US financial system, with which almost all internationally operating banks have close ties.