Former prosecutor calls for EU statute blocking US sanctions on ICC members

The US imposed sanctions in February 2025 on 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor, along with three Palestinian organizations, following 2024 ICC arrest warrants for members of the Israeli cabinet, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes that reportedly lock judges out of the European financial system, disrupting normal life for judges and their families. Fatou Bensouda called the measures coercive attempts to interfere with independent judicial and prosecutorial functions under international law. She said the international community must respond with seriousness, institutional resolve, and practical solidarity, warning consequences extend beyond The Hague. She criticized ICC-affiliated states for slow, timid reactions and insufficient tangible support, and noted growing anger toward the Dutch government as host of the ICC.

"These are coercive attempts to interfere with the independent exercise of judicial and prosecutorial functions established under international law. If the international community does not respond with seriousness, institutional resolve and practical solidarity, the consequences will extend far beyond The Hague. Without naming the US, she said: To deploy such instruments against prosecutors, judges or court officials who are engaged in judicial functions in the pursuit of accountability for the most egregious crimes represents a profound conceptual distortion."

"It is thuggish and inappropriate, and it should be called out for what it is. It transforms disagreement with legal process into crippling economic coercion to meet political ends. It is bullying, coercion and power politics through other means. Bensouda accused ICC-affiliated states of largely slow and timid reactions, inactions and empty gestures of support, without tangible backing and pushback against coercive measures."

"The US imposed sanctions on 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor as well three Palestinian organisations, in response to the ICC decision in 2024 to issue arrest warrants for members of the Israeli cabinet, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The US sanctions which include travel bans and asset freezes have locked judges out of the European financial system, making it impossible for them or their families to live normal lives."

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