The US sanctioned Akane of Japan and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal on Tuesday, as a part of Washington’s marketing campaign towards what it calls a “corrupt and fatally politicised” physique.
The EU’s prime officers instantly threw their help behind Akane, saying they “stand firmly” with the ICC president and her prime officers.
In twin statements on X, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council head Antonio Costa the courtroom “must be able to act independently and without external pressure.”
Germany echoed the stance, with its international ministry calling the courtroom’s independence “of central importance”; whereas the Netherlands, which hosts the courtroom at The Hague, additionally voiced its disapproval.
Slamming the US transfer, Spain described the courtroom as “the cornerstone of the international criminal justice system”.
The courtroom mentioned in an announcement: “These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution.”
“Such measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff… undermine the rule of law,” it added.
Washington’s newest transfer follows sanctions it imposed on a number of ICC officers, seen as largely in response to the courtroom’s investigations involving Israel, a US ally.
Japan additionally objected to the sanctions, saying the nation has “consistently supported the ICC… in its efforts to prosecute and punish the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and to uphold the rule of law.”
The measures are “very unfortunate,” international ministry press secretary Toshihiro Kitamura mentioned in an announcement.
Japan is the most important funder of the ICC and an in depth US ally — which isn’t a celebration to the worldwide treaty that established the courtroom.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier mentioned in an announcement, with out offering examples, that the sanctioned “individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”.
Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes people accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a final resort when nations shouldn’t have enough authorized techniques to make sure accountability.
Israeli help
President Donald Trump’s administration has already imposed sanctions towards officers of the ICC, which issued in 2024 an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the warfare in Gaza.
The measures bar them from getting into the US and from finishing up transactions within the US monetary system.
In an X submit Tuesday, Netanyahu applauded the US sanctions and known as the ICC “a kangaroo court that cloaks its abuse of power in the language of international law”.
Last month, Washington launched a serious diplomatic offensive towards the ICC, accusing it of “threatening” Americans and calling on companions to withdraw from the physique — a transfer already introduced by Chad and Venezuela, which has aligned with the United States because the seize and ouster of chief Nicolas Maduro.
The ICC expressed concern over these withdrawals, asserting that such nations risked undermining the collective pursuit of justice.
‘Assault’
The US signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC however by no means ratified the treaty. Israel, Russia and China are usually not ICC members both.
“The Trump Administration has been clear: the International Criminal Court is a corrupt and fatally politicised supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate. We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty,” Rubio’s assertion mentioned.
Last week, 4 human rights teams sued Trump in a New York courtroom over his sanctions concentrating on the ICC, saying the measures block victims of warfare crimes from pursuing justice.
In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the warfare in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to situation its personal arrest warrants for senior courtroom officers.
These included Akane, 70, an ICC choose since 2018 who was elected because the courtroom’s president in March 2024.
“Even if one judge were to die, we are easily replaceable, so there is really no value in targeting us,” she mentioned after the Russian announcement.
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Originally printed on France24