Tomoko Akane said in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun newspaper
“The economic sanctions that the United States is preparing against the International Criminal Court (ICC) threaten the very existence of the court.” Tomoko Akane, the first Japanese president of the ICC, said this in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, explaining that the sanctions being discussed in the Senate in Washington would make it “impossible for the International Criminal Court to continue to exist”.
The US House of Representatives has already approved a bill to impose economic sanctions against the ICC, a decision that came after the court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav in November. Gallant and other Jewish state officials for their alleged involvement in war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon.
Currently, explains the Japanese newspaper, bipartisan support is also building in the US Senate for a law that imposes economic retaliation against the ICC. While Akane said she was unsure of the exact nature of the law’s contents, she stressed that the sanctions could extend to a wide range of prosecutors, judges and other Court employees, including herself. “Major sanctions would make normal operation impossible. There is a possibility that banks, not only in the United States, but also in Europe will suspend all transactions, and if that happened, we would not be able to pay our employees and would be forced to stop activity”. In that case, the arrest warrants issued by the Court against not only Israeli officials, but also the leaders of Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin, would become de facto inapplicable. “The ‘rule of law’ in the international community would be rendered worthless, and victims of war crimes would not be compensated,” Akane concluded.
