Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday that the United States is sanctioning two senior International Criminal Court officials: ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal.
The designations were made under Executive Order 14203. Rubio said both individuals “have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.”
In the State Department press statement, Rubio called the ICC “a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.” He said the United States “will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty.”
The move advances the diplomatic campaign the administration launched last month to counter the court. Rubio stated the whole-of-government effort will be sweeping and that the administration expects more countries to end their funding and participation in the ICC. He added that the Trump Administration “stands ready to take additional measures, if necessary, to systematically dismantle the ICC until it is incapable of threatening American sovereignty.”
The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets the two officials may hold and cut them off from the U.S. financial system.
