Washington increases pressure on the International Criminal Court, angering Japan

Japan on Wednesday deemed the US sanctions against the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Tomoko Akane of Japan, "very regrettable" as part of an offensive against the institution which Washington accuses of being "politicized".

These sanctions, announced the day before by the United States, also target the current deputy prosecutor of the ICC, the Senegalese magistrate Abdoulaye Seye, prohibiting judges from entering the country and blocking any real estate or financial transactions with them in the world's largest economy.

Tokyo, the main contributor to the ICC's funding and a close ally of the United States, deplored the "very regrettable" measures on Wednesday in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Japan 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 document recalls.

Germany also stated that it was of "central importance to defend and protect the ICC as an independent institution." "We support the ICC and its president, Tomoko Akane," a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said.

These new US sanctions "undermine the rule of law" and constitute a "blatant attack on the independence of an impartial judicial institution," the ICC said in a statement.

"These individuals participated directly in the ICC's efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not accepted the ICC's jurisdiction," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement, without citing examples.

The United States, which is not a party to the international treaty establishing the ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, has imposed sanctions on several judges of the Court. But it had not yet targeted its president.

These sanctions are primarily a response to investigations conducted by the ICC against Israel, a US ally. The Court issued an arrest warrant in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in connection with the war in Gaza.

After the announcement of the US sanctions, he congratulated on X "Marco Rubio for leading the Trump administration's resolute efforts against the illegitimate abuses of the ICC, and for making it clear that the corrupt officials who run the ICC will have to face the consequences."

Washington launched a major diplomatic offensive against the ICC last month, accusing it of "threatening" Americans and pressuring its partners to withdraw from it.

Chad and Venezuela, which has been close to Washington since the capture of leader Nicolás Maduro, recently followed suit by announcing their intention to withdraw from the ICC. Mr. Rubio recently expressed confidence that other countries would follow.

- Complaint filed in the United States -

The Trump administration "has been clear: the ICC is a corrupt and highly politicized supranational jurisdiction that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate," denounced Marco Rubio.

"We will not tolerate it undermining the sovereignty of states," added the US Secretary of State.

In response, the Court stated that "measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff working to fulfill the mandate entrusted to the ICC by States undermine the rule of law", threatening "the international legal order itself".

Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen expressed regret over the US decision on X, arguing that the courts should be able to "freely carry out their mandates".

Founded in 1998 and operational since 2002, the ICC, a permanent international criminal court, is responsible for trying individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and war crimes.

It is going through a serious crisis, targeted by the United States, which is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC but has never ratified it.

Neither Israel nor Russia are members.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant in 2023 against Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in the war in Ukraine, which led Moscow to issue its own arrest warrants against senior officials of the Court.

Among them was Tomoko Akane, 70, a judge at the ICC since 2018, where she was elected president in March 2024. "Even if a judge were to die, we are easily replaceable, so there is really no value in targeting us," she said after the Russian announcement.

In the United States, human rights organizations have recently taken legal action to challenge the sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump on the Court, claiming that they hinder the ability of war crime victims to obtain justice.