The Hague, Netherlands, Oct. 9 (Jiji Press)–The International Criminal Court on Friday denounced the United States’ designation of The Hague, the Netherlands-based court as a target of its sanctions the same day. “It is an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order, which strikes at the simple principle that no one stands above the law,” the ICC said in a statement. “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,” ICC President Tomoko Akane said in the statement. The ICC said the designation is aimed at “disrupting the court’s operations and at intimidating those who work for or cooperate with the court,” adding, “The court, for its part, will not be deterred.” “History will judge this moment,” the court said, asking its 125 member countries and regions for support so that it can continue its activities. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which has criticized the ICC for posing a threat to his country’s sovereignty, added the court to its sanctions lists on Friday. The move came after the country sanctioned Akane, a Japanese national, in August over the ICC’s war crime investigations involving U.S. troops and its issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The United States is not a member of the ICC. In a video message released Friday, Akane said that the U.S. sanctions against the ICC as an institution is “an attack against sovereign states that have created the court” and “an attack on the victims of mass atrocities who have waited years…for those responsible to be held to account.” “The ICC does not yield to external threats that will only benefit those who commit the most serious crimes of concern to the international community,” she said. “All of us must make a choice now: between a world where might is right or a future based on the rule of law where victims can continue to access justice,” Akane said, adding, “All of us, including states parties, have a legal and moral duty to act in defense of the international order.” “I pledge to you: The international Criminal Court will continue its work, undeterred, with the firm resolve that justice must prevail,” Akane stressed. Under the sanctions, the ICC is barred from transactions with U.S. companies and shut out of dollar-denominated settlements. Meanwhile, the United States set a 180-day grace period, in which it said the court is allowed to continue its activities for operational management. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Friday, “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
