ICC president accuses Trump administration of trying to obstruct international justice

The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday accused the Trump administration of attempting to suppress global justice by imposing sanctions on the tribunal and vowed such efforts would not succeed.

Judge Tomoko Akane of Japan briefed the United Nations by videoconference because of U.S. sanctions, calling the circumstances “extraordinary” and urging the 193-member body to “to take concrete action, individually and collectively, in defense of the court.”

“Let me be clear: the court will continue to fully discharge its mandate with independence and impartiality, acting only on the basis of the law and the evidence for the sake of the countless victims of grave crimes,” she said.

The Trump administration sanctioned the ICC on Oct. 9, after earlier imposing individual sanctions that targeted Akane and other judges.

“These measures are intended to disrupt the court’s operations and to intimidate its staff and all those who are cooperating with it,” she said in her address.

“Their effects reach far beyond the officials named, they touch staff members and their families, victims and witnesses, counsel, and the partners of whom the court depends.”

Akane thanked the United Nations secretary-general and member states that opposed the U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration has vowed to dismantle the court “brick by brick” with the sanctions, blocking U.S. citizens and businesses from working with it, and urging other countries to sever their ties with the ICC.

“The court has called, and once again calls, upon all U.N. member states to take concrete action individually and collectively in defense of the court and the principles enshrined in the Rome Statute, and to ensure that the court keeps its means, it needs to do its work,” she said.

The ICC is made up of 125 member states that are party to the Rome Statute, which gives the court its jurisdiction. The Trump administration argues that the ICC has gone outside its jurisdiction in cases investigating the U.S. and its ally Israel, which are not signatories to the Rome Statute.