Credit: avrupa.info.tr /  Joseph Borrell,  High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Joseph  Borrell, the European Union’s  foreign policy chief, says the EU stands solidly behind the International Criminal Court after the U.S. slapped economic sanctions on The Hague-based tribunal’s chief prosecutor for investigating American war crimes. The sanctions imposed this week include a freeze on assets held in the U.S. or subject to U.S. law and target ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and the court’s head of jurisdiction, Phakiso Mochochoko.

“The sanctions announced by the United States administration on 2 September against two Court staff members, including its Prosecutor, are unacceptable and unprecedented measures that attempt to obstruct the Court’s investigations and judicial proceedings. The European Union is unwavering in its support for the universality of the Rome Statute and for the ICC. We will resolutely defend it from any attempts aimed at obstructing the course of justice and undermining the international system of criminal justice.”

-Joseph Borrell,  High Representative for Foreign Affairs  of the European Commission

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in announcing the sanctions said: 

“The United States is taking action to protect Americans from unjust and illegitimate investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which threatens our sovereignty and poses a danger to the United States and our allies.To that end and pursuant to Executive Order (E.O) 13928, the United States is designating ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda for having directly engaged in an effort to investigate U.S. personnel, and the ICC’s Head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division Phakiso Mochochoko for having materially assisted Prosecutor Bensouda”. 

The EU says the ICC plays an essential role in delivering justice to the victims of some of world’s “most horrific crimes” and that the war tribunal must be able to work independently and impartially, free from outside interference. The EU called on the U.S. to reverse the  sanctions on the ICC.

“The United States should reconsider its position and reverse the measures it has taken. Impunity must never be an option”.

-Joseph Borrell,  High Representative for Foreign Affairs  of EC

ICC Seeks Unprecedented investigation of alleged U.S. War Crimes in Afghanistan

Credit: Wikipedia /US troops in Afghanistan.  International Criminal Court authorized investigation into alleged war crimes committed by American soldiers in Afghanistan. 

From the beginning of the ICC’s announcement the unprecedented  probe into possible U.S war crimes, the action has drawn the fire and fury of the Trump Administration.  In April 2019,    US authorities revoked ICC prosecutor Bensouda’s entry into the United States, as part of a sweeping policy to deny visas to ICC members investigating alleged war crimes committed by American troops in Afghanistan.  It was confirmed at the time,  that the U.S.’  persona non grata  ICC list  extended all the  way up to The Hague-based war tribunal’s head prosecutor Bensouda, who is from west African nation Gambia.  As part of her job has chief prosecutor of the ICC, Bensouda makes regular trips to the United Nations world headquarters in New York-USA.  As such, Besouda is a “Diplomat” and is exempt from the U.S. ban due to Diplomatic Immunity under the Rome Statute.   Many critics accused the U.S.  of overreaching on trying to punish Besnsoda for daring investigate possible American war crimes.