US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced measures Wednesday against Fatou Bensouda, who is leading an investigation into possible abuses by US soldiers in Afghanistan.
“Any individual or entity who will continue to materially assist” the prosecutor “is also exposed to sanctions,” said US foreign minister Mike Pompeo at a press conference (archives).
–KEYSTONE / MARCEL BIERI
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The United States announced on Wednesday sanctions against the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda. Washington thus wishes to dissuade the jurisdiction from prosecuting American soldiers.
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“Any individual or entity who will continue to assist materially” the prosecutor “is also exposed to sanctions”, declared the chief of the American diplomacy Mike Pompeo during a press conference.
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Already engaged in an unprecedented offensive against the ICC, US President Donald Trump in June authorized economic sanctions against his officials to dissuade the jurisdiction from prosecuting US soldiers for their involvement in the conflict in Afghanistan.
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Multilateralism hated
Wednesday’s announcement is the first concrete expression of this threat. Washington had previously banned court officials from entering the United States and revoked Fatou Bensouda’s US visa.
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“The United States’ commitment to justice for victims of the worst crime continues to shamefully decline,” Balkees Jarrah of Human Rights Watch responded on Twitter.
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In June, the ICC deplored “a series of unprecedented attacks” against it, underlining its independence. “These attacks constitute an escalation and an unacceptable attempt to undermine the rule of law and the judicial procedures of the Court,” she added.
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Washington is not angry with the appeal decision taken in March to allow an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan despite opposition from the Trump administration.
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Allegations of torture
The investigation desired by prosecutor Bensouda aims, among other things, at abuses allegedly committed by American soldiers in the country where the United States has been waging the longest war in its history since 2001. Allegations of torture have also been made against the CIA.
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The judges of the International Criminal Court initially refused to authorize this investigation after a first unprecedented threat of sanctions from Washington, which is not a member of this court, unlike Kabul.
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The US government’s staunch opposition is also to “politically motivated” investigations against Israel, which could be the subject of war crimes investigations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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The Court is governed by the Rome Statute, a treaty that entered into force in 2002 and has since been ratified by more than 120 countries. It is one of the main incarnations of multilateralism hated by President Trump and the sovereignist fringe of the American conservative camp.
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(ATS / NXP)
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