US imposes sanctions on 2 ICC judges for targeting Israel over alleged war crimes

The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on two more judges of the Criminal Court (ICC), escalating its response to the court's investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza and deepening a widening rift between Washington and the Hague-based tribunal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures were directly linked to a recent ICC ruling that upheld arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. The two judges had voted with the majority to reject Israel's attempt to halt the war crimes probe.

"We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject US and Israeli persons to the ICC's jurisdiction," Rubio said in a statement. "We will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to the ICC's lawfare and overreach."

JUDGES HIT BY US SANCTIONS

The judges named in the latest sanctions are Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia, a former justice minister, and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia. The measures bar them from entering the United States and freeze any property or financial interests they may hold within US jurisdiction.

Lordkipanidze previously served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York. US officials said the sanctions were imposed under executive authority aimed at countering actions deemed harmful to US and allied interests.

With the latest move, the Trump administration has sanctioned at least eight ICC judges and three prosecutors, including chief prosecutor Karim Khan, in connection with cases involving Israel.

The ICC condemned the sanctions as an attack on judicial independence. In a statement, the court said it "strongly rejects" the measures, calling them "a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution".

The court said it would continue its work without interference and warned that targeting judges for their rulings undermines the rule of law and international justice.

ISRAEL PRAISES WASHINGTON

Israel welcomed the US decision. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked Rubio in a post on X, describing the sanctions as a "moral clear stance" against what Israel sees as a politically motivated investigation.

The ICC's 44-page ruling earlier this week upheld the decision to proceed with investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to Israel's military campaign in Gaza, launched after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. Netanyahu and Gallant both deny wrongdoing and have rejected the court's authority.

The US action places Washington alongside Russia, which last week sentenced ICC judges and prosecutor Karim Khan in absentia. The ICC had previously issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged crimes linked to the invasion of Ukraine.

The United States, Israel and Russia are not members of the ICC and do not recognise its jurisdiction. The court, established in 2002 as a tribunal of last resort, is backed by nearly all Western democracies and is intended to prosecute individuals when national courts fail to do so.

Washington's relationship with the ICC has long been uneasy. During Trump's first term, the US sanctioned the court's top prosecutor in an effort to block an investigation into alleged abuses during the US-led war in Afghanistan. Those sanctions were later lifted by former president Joe Biden's administration, which sought limited cooperation with the ICC, particularly on cases related to Ukraine.

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With inputs from agencies

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