Tokyo objected to sanctions imposed by the United States against International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane (pic) of Japan, calling Washington’s latest salvo against the institution “very unfortunate”.
The Trump administration slapped sanctions on Akane and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal on Tuesday, as part of Washington’s campaign against what it calls a “corrupt and fatally politicised” body.
Japan has “consistently supported the ICC ... in its efforts to prosecute and punish the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and to uphold the rule of law”, foreign ministry press secretary Toshihiro Kitamura said yesterday.
“From this standpoint, the announced measures are very unfortunate.”
Japan is the biggest funder of the ICC and a close ally of the United States – which is not a party to the international treaty that established the court.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Tuesday, without providing examples, that the sanctioned “individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”.
The ICC said the US sanctions “undermine the rule of law”.
“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the court said in a statement.
The ICC prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability. — AFP
