Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

A picture taken on November 23, 2015 shows the new building of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands. AFP PHOTO / ANP / MARTIJN BEEKMAN +++ NETHERLANDS OUT / AFP PHOTO / ANP / Martijn Beekman

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178710116380920180905-international-criminal-court-afp-1.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A picture taken on November 23, 2015 shows the new building of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands. <em>AFP photo/ANP/Martijn Beekman </em><em></em><br/></span></span></span></div><p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands (<strong>UPDATED</strong>) — The International Criminal Court on Wednesday lashed out at the United States after Washington slapped sanctions on President Tomoko Akane, calling it a &quot;flagrant attack&quot; on the court&#x27;s independence.</p><p>The US imposed sanctions on Akane of Japan and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal on Tuesday, as part of Washington&#x27;s campaign against what it calls a &quot;corrupt and fatally politicised&quot; body.</p><p>&quot;These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution,&quot; the court, based in The Hague, said in a statement.</p><p>&quot;Such measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff... undermine the rule of law,&quot; added the court.</p><p>Washington&#x27;s latest move follows sanctions it imposed on several ICC officials, largely in response to the court&#x27;s investigations involving Israel, a US ally.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/8/12/us-rights-groups-sue-trump-over-icc-sanctions-0918">US rights groups sue Trump over ICC sanctions</a></div><p>Japan also objected to the sanctions, saying the country has &quot;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.&quot;</p><p>&quot;From this standpoint, the announced measures are very unfortunate,&quot; foreign ministry press secretary Toshihiro Kitamura said in a statement.</p><p>Japan is the biggest funder of the ICC and a close US ally -- which is not a party to the international treaty that established the court.</p><p>US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said in a statement, without providing examples, that the sanctioned &quot;individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction&quot;.</p><p>The ICC replied in a statement on Tuesday, saying &quot;When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk.&quot;</p><p>Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Israeli support -</strong></div><p>Donald Trump&#x27;s administration has already imposed sanctions against officials of the ICC, which issued in 2024 an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.</p><p>The measures bar them from entering the US and from carrying out transactions in the US financial system.</p><p>In an X post Tuesday evening, Netanyahu applauded the US sanctions and called the ICC &quot;a kangaroo court that cloaks its abuse of power in the language of international law&quot;.</p><p>The Netherlands, where the court is based at the Hague, &quot;disapproves of the latest sanctions against officials and staff of the ICC,&quot; Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen wrote in an X post.</p><p>&quot;International courts and tribunals must be able to freely carry out their mandates,&quot; he added.</p><p>Last month, Washington launched a major diplomatic offensive against the ICC, accusing it of &quot;threatening&quot; Americans and calling on partners to withdraw from the body -- a move already announced by Chad and Venezuela, which has aligned with the United States since the capture and ouster of leader Nicolas Maduro.</p><p>The ICC expressed concern over those withdrawals, asserting that such countries risked undermining the collective pursuit of justice.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Contempt for international law&#x27; -</strong></div><p>The US signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC but never ratified the treaty. Israel, Russia and China are not ICC members either.</p><p>&quot;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,&quot; Rubio&#x27;s statement said.</p><p>Last week, four human rights groups sued Trump in a New York court over his sanctions targeting the ICC, saying the measures block victims of war crimes from pursuing justice.</p><p>One of the plaintiff groups, Human Rights Watch, decried the new sanctions in a statement on Tuesday.</p><p>The sanctions are &quot;just the latest example of the Trump administration&#x27;s utter contempt for international law and a naked attempt to shield American and Israeli officials implicated in serious crimes from justice,&quot; the rights group&#x27;s Middle East and North Africa director Balkees Jarrah said in a statement.</p><p>In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to issue its own arrest warrants for senior court officials.</p><p>These included Akane, 70, an ICC judge since 2018 who was elected as the court&#x27;s president in March 2024.</p><p>&quot;Even if one judge were to die, we are easily replaceable, so there is really no value in targeting us,&quot; she said after the Russian announcement.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="960" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DD10-1fqxyc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The International Criminal Court on Wednesday lashed out at the United States after Washington slapped sanctions on President Tomoko Akane, calling it a "flagrant attack" on the court's independence.</p>

The International Criminal Court on Wednesday lashed out at the United States after Washington slapped sanctions on President Tomoko Akane, calling it a "flagrant attack" on the court's independence.

ICC says US sanctions 'flagrant attack' on court independence

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ICC says US sanctions 'flagrant attack' on court independence

Agence France-Presse

Published August 19, 2026 09:02 AM PHT

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Updated August 19, 2026 07:35 PM PHT

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