3 minutes agoPresident Trump imposes sanctions on International Criminal Tribunal
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)President Donald Trump authorised economic sanctions and travel to employees of the International Criminal Court investigating American citizens or allied countries like Israel on Thursday, repeating actions he took during his first term at the White House. The decision coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah's visit to Washington, which is sought by the Court [...]
President Donald Trump authorised economic sanctions and travel to employees of the International Criminal Court investigating American citizens or allied countries like Israel on Thursday, repeating actions he took during his first term at the White House.
The decision coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah's visit to Washington, which is sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) along with his former defence minister and a leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in connection with the war in the Gaza Strip. The names of sanctioned individuals are not yet known.
In 2020, during President Trump's first administration, Washington imposed sanctions on then prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of its key aides in investigations into American troops under suspicion of war crimes in Afghanistan.
The International Criminal Court, the ICC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sanctions include freezing any property in the United States of individuals listed on the sanctions list and banning them and their families from entering the United States.
The permanent court of 125 members could prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression against member states or their citizens. The United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members of this court.
President Trump signed the executive order after Democrat senators blocked a republican effort last week to adopt a legislation defining sanctions against the tribunal.
The court has taken measures to protect its employees from possible US sanctions, paying their salaries three months in advance, while expected to face financial restrictions that could undermine the functioning of the war crimes tribunal, sources for Reuters news agency said last month.
Last year in December, the tribunal's president, Judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would rapidly damage operations for all situations and cases, as well as endanger its own existence”.
Russia has also targeted the tribunal. In 2023, the JNP issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crime over the illegal expulsion of hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has banned JNP chief prosecutor Karym Khan and placed him and two other judges on the list of wanted persons./ VOA
