US imposes sanctions on two more ICC judges for Israel probe

Washington (United States) (AFP) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on two more judges of the International Criminal Court after they rejected an attempt by Israel to end a war crimes probe in Gaza.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had already ordered sanctions on judges and prosecutors in the case, explicitly linked the new measures to a vote Monday in which the two judges sided with the majority and upheld arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

"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," he wrote.

It brings the number of ICC judges sanctioned by the Trump administration to at least eight, along with at least three prosecutors including chief prosecutor Karim Khan.

The Hague-based ICC responded that it "strongly rejects" the fresh sanctions.

The measures are "a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution," the ICC said in a statement.

Israel praised the US move. "Thank you, Secretary Rubio, for this moral clear stance," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.

The judges newly slapped with sanctions were Gocha Lordkipanidze, formerly Georgia's justice minister, and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia.

The sanctions ban the judges from entering the United States and block property or financial transactions with them in the world's largest economy.

Lordkipanidze was formerly an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York.

Monday's 44-page ruling upheld the decision to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.

Netanyahu and Gallant both face accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the relentless Israeli offensive in the Palestinian territory launched after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

The latest action puts the United States in league with Russia, which last week sentenced ICC judges and prosecutor Khan in absentia.

The ICC had also issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladmir Putin related to the invasion of Ukraine.

The United States, Israel and Russia are among the countries that reject the ICC, which is backed by nearly all Western democracies.

The ICC was set up in 2002 as a court of last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.

During Trump's first term, the United States also took action against the top ICC prosecutor in a successful attempt to block an investigation into alleged abuses during the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Former president Joe Biden's administration lifted the sanctions and sought limited cooperation with the court, especially over Ukraine.