US Secretary of State Rubio issued a statement on the 18th, stating that the United States that day imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane of Japan and another ICC official.
According to the statement, the other sanctioned individual is ICC Senior Trial Lawyer, Seydou Sy, who is from Senegal.
The statement said that these two individuals were directly involved in the ICC’s investigations, arrests, detentions, or prosecutions of officials from countries that have not consented to its jurisdiction.
On July 13, the US State Department announced the launch of a multi-department operation to systematically undermine the operational capacity of the ICC, preventing it from taking action against US service members or officials and to stop it from otherwise threatening US sovereignty. Rubio released a video statement on social media the same day, saying the ICC and its allies were launching a war against the US, a war using regulations, treaties, and the so-called coercive power of international law, endangering various aspects of the US political and legal systems.
In recent years, the US has repeatedly announced sanctions against ICC judges and prosecutors, citing the ICC’s investigations of US personnel and the issuance of arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister as the reason. On June 24 this year, three female ICC judges filed a lawsuit in the US federal court in New York against US President Trump and his administration, alleging that previous sanctions imposed on them were illegal. On July 2, the US Department of Justice issued a statement that then-acting Attorney General Blanche had written a letter to Tomoko Akane, refusing to recognize the ICC’s judicial authority over Americans.
Undermining Rule of Law
The International Criminal Court issued a statement on the 18th in response, stating that the US sanctions on ICC judges undermine the rule of law.
The statement said: "When judicial personnel are pressured and prevented from acting according to the law, the very order of international rule of law is put at risk."