UN dismayed over US sanctions on top International Criminal Court officials

Part 1

1. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the ICC of "illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction", announcing sanctions against Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and the Head of the Jurisdiction Complementarity and Cooperation Division, Phakiso Mochochoko, in accordance with a US executive order issued in early June by President Donald Trump involving “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Associated with the ICC”....

Mr. Pompeo made the accusation as The Hague-based court probes whether US forces have committed alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

Calling the ICC “a thoroughly broken and corrupted institution”, the Secretary of State reminded that the US never ratified the Rome Statute that created the court, adding “we will not tolerate its illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction”.

He maintained that the US was taking this step, “because the ICC continues to target Americans, sadly”....

The new measures "are another attempt to interfere with the Court's judicial and prosecutorial independence and crucial work to address grave crimes of concern to the international community as mandated under the ICC Rome Statute", said the ICC in a statement released late on Wednesday.

"These coercive acts, directed at an international judicial institution and its civil servants, are unprecedented and constitute serious attacks against the Court, the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice, and the rule of law more generally."

The Court said it would continue to "stand firmly by its personnel and its mission of fighting impunity for the world's most serious crimes under international law, independently and impartially, in accordance with its mandate.

"In doing so, the Court benefits from the strong support and commitment of two thirds of the world's States which are parties to the Rome Statute."....

Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/09/1071572

2. The move by the "President of Scandals" to punish top officials of the International Criminal Court is the greatest joke of the century. It shows the enormous credibility problem of his ruling party which supports him at all costs. America should be held accountable for its illegal behavior and crimes against humanity for decades:

(a) Crimes that range from theft of intellectual property, to human, drug, wildlife and weapons trafficking to the uncontrollable spread of the coronavirus in the country and the global spread of Kansas virus during World War 1.

(b) War crimes in the Philippines, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Vietnam.

(c) US biological warfare during Korean War.

(d) The March 1945 Firebombing of Tokyo.

(e) The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

(f) Discriminatory sterilization practices in the 20th century.