US seriously threatens International Hague tribunal

We'll stop judges and prosecutors from entering the US. We will sanction their funds in the US financial system and persecute them in the US penal system. We will do the same with any company or state that helps investigate Americans from court”, Bolton said.

White House Media Secretary Sarah Saunders said Bolton made the statements after the International Criminal Court told Washington that it is “on the eve of” announcing a decision on possible investigations in Afghanistan.

We're suggesting our position before they make that decision”, Sanders said.

In fact, the expected decision will authorise an investigation into atrocities claimed by Taliban and Afghan Government forces.

But it may also include cases where American investigators are accused of torturing prisoners in Afghanistan and of <x0-local black” in Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

Bolton said the Trump administration “would use any means needed to protect our citizens and those of allies from the unjust persecution of this illegal court”.

“This president will not allow American citizens to be prosecuted by foreign bureaucratics and he will not allow other nations to dictate our own self-defense tools”, Bolton said.

What exactly is the International Criminal Court?

The International Criminal Court is the world's first permanent judicial institution to claim jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on the basis of international law.

It was established as an intergovernmental organisation in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 2002, under a treaty known as the Rome Status of the International Criminal Court.

The court is overseen by an assembly of 123 countries that have ratified Rome's Stattuti.

These member states include nearly all of South America, much of Europe, much of the Ocean, and about half of Africa.

Thirty-one countries signed it, but they have not ratified Rome's statue.

Four of these signatory states -- the United States, Russia, Israel and Sudan -- have announced to the United Nations that they no longer intend to become participants.

Forty-one UN member states have not signed Rome's statue. They include China and India, which are very critical of the International Criminal Court.

How is the International Criminal Court structured?

The International Criminal Court consists of four branches -- the presidency, the judicial sector, the prosecutor and the registry.

Three judges form the court presidency, which is responsible for its administration.

Each member of the presidency is elected by the court judges for a maximum of two mandates each lasts three years.

The judicial sector has 18 judges sitting in the three chambers of the International Criminal Court -- a chamber of preliminary procedure, a court of justice and an appeals court.

The International Criminal Court's prosecution investigates cases referred to by states, by the UN Security Council, or by judges in the pre-procedure chamber.

In cases reaching trial, it also conducts legal procedures against the defendants.

The registry is responsible for non-trial issues such as legal assistance, court management, witnesses and victims, detention unit and traditional administration services.

What is Washington's story of opposition to the International Criminal Court?

The United States has never joined the International Criminal Court and has consistently opposed empowering an international court that will be able to judge American military and political leaders under international law.

This, largely because of concerns that American soldiers and civil leaders can be tried, without US constitutional protection, by an anti-American prosecutor in a court of non-American judges.

Instead, war crimes and crimes against humanity are prosecuted in US courts, according to the 1996 War Crimes Act, a law valid whether the victim or the perpetrators of a alleged war crime is a US citizen or a member of the American Army.

U.S. President George W. Bush has actively made efforts not to allow the International Criminal Court to have jurisdiction over the United States or their citizens.

She has done so by negotiating bilateral agreements with about 100 other countries to ensure that US citizens will have immunity from prosecution by the International Court.

President Barack Obama's administration has committed itself to the tribunal, participating in its governing bodies and providing support for ongoing persecutions.

Why have U.S.-D. disagreements escalated suddenly?

Bolton's threat to sanction judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court comes a few days before a decision expected by the tribunal, if its prosecutors should launch formal investigations into possible war crimes in Afghanistan, during the past 15 years, potentially involving Americans.

The International Criminal Court said in 2016 that members of the American Army and CIA may have committed war crimes by torturing prisoners in Afghanistan.

In November 2017, the court prosecutor, Fatou Bensuda, has said she will seek authorisation from the court judges for investigating the situation in Afghanistan.

Since Afghanistan is a member of the International Criminal Court, the court can seek jurisdiction over any war crime, genocide or crime against humanity committed in Afghanistan after May 1, 2003.

But the government in Kabul has not requested such an investigation, nor has the UN Security Council.

This means that the only way to implement a formal investigation is for the court prosecutor to receive authorisation from the court's preliminary procedure chamber.

Bolton said the Trump administration opposes the idea that the International Criminal Court has higher authority than the US Constitution and US sovereignty.

Bolton also pledged that Washington “will not co-operate with the International Criminal Court”.

“We will not provide any assistance to the International Criminal Court. We'll let the court die on its own. After all, for all its goals and purposes, she is already dead to us”, Bolton said.

Following Bolton's comments, International Criminal Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah told Radio Free Europe this institution “as a court of law, will continue to do the work without stumbling, as an independent and impartial institution backed by 123 states”.

Abdallah said these 123 countries “believe that the tribunal is important to ensure responsibility for crimes that shock humanity's consciousness”.

What is the expected result of an investigation by the International Criminal Court?

Alex Whiting, professor of Harvard Law School who worked at the International Criminal Court prosecutor's office in 2010-13, says this court has “extremely limited investigative operations and is almost entirely dependent on co-operation” of member states for collecting information.

In his blog “Only security”, Whiting says investigators of the International Criminal Court “will not have co-operation from the Afghan government, the Taliban or the United States”.

Whiting also notes that the American Act for the Protection of Ministers prevents US officials from co-operating voluntarily.

He says that if the investigation in Afghanistan is approved by the pre-procedure procedure chamber, “expects the investigation to last for years”, while results are highly uncertain “”.

Whiting predicts that the current US-trial dispute results in the weakening of the International Criminal Court.

The danger is that the American pressure to end the court or limit its activities can have real consequences this time, causing even the court's friends to want to sacrifice the institution to focus on other goals”, says Whiting.

He adds that the return of the Trump administration against the legacy of institution support for “achieving responsibility for international crimes” will likely continue “for the next many years”.