ICC condemns US sanctions over probe

THE HAGUE－The International Criminal Court has condemned the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on the court's prosecutor and one of her top aides for continuing to investigate war crimes allegations against US citizens, the ICC said on Wednesday.

"These coercive acts, directed at an international judicial institution and its civil servants, are unprecedented and constitute serious attacks against the court, the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice, and the rule of law more generally," said the court in a statement.

O-Gon Kwon, the president of the court's Assembly of States Parties, called the move "unprecedented and unacceptable" and an affront to efforts to combat impunity for war crimes. The sanctions were also denounced by the United Nations.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the moves as part of the administration's pushback against the tribunal, based in The Hague, for investigations into the US and its allies. The sanctions include a freeze on assets held in the US or subject to US law and target Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and the court's head of jurisdiction, Phakiso Mochochoko.

Travel ban

He said the ICC, to which the US has never been a party, was "a thoroughly broken and corrupt institution".

"We will not tolerate its illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction," Pompeo told reporters at a State Department news conference. In addition to the sanctions imposed on Bensouda and Mochochoko, Pompeo said people who provide them with "material support" in investigating US citizens could also face US penalties.

Pompeo's department had previously imposed a travel ban on Bensouda and other tribunal employees over investigations into allegations of torture and other crimes by US citizens in Afghanistan.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted Pompeo's statement "with concern", according to spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

He stressed that the UN expects the US to abide by its agreement with the UN, which allows the prosecutor to come to UN headquarters on ICC business.

In March 2019, Pompeo ordered the revocation or denial of visas to ICC staff seeking to investigate allegations of war crimes and other abuses by US forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere. He also said he might revoke the visas of those who seek action against Israel.

Prosecutors have been conducting a preliminary inquiry since 2015 in the Palestinian territories, including Israel's settlement policy, crimes allegedly committed by both sides in the 2014 Gaza conflict and Hamas rocket attacks aimed at Israeli civilians.

Xinhua - Agencies