Donald Trump had barely debuted in his second presidential mandate in the United States when he signed last February to participate in investigations against his citizens or Israel for war crimes. Now he has hit that organism again. This Wednesday, his administration has announced measures against four of the members of that global court: two judges and two prosecutors.
Those affected are Judges Kimberly Prost, from Canada, and Nicolas Guillou, of France, as well as the Nazhat Shameem Khan attached prosecutors, of Fiji, and Mame Mandiaye Niang de Senegal, as recorded in a statement signed by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. The four, according to the head of American diplomacy, “have been directly involved in the efforts of the TPI to investigate, stop or bring citizens of the United States or Israel to trial, without the permission of any of the two countries.”
Judge Prost has participated in court processes related to war crimes. In several of them, the already personal CIA of the US Armed Forces is investigated for their intervention in conflicts such as Afghanistan. Khan and Niang prosecutors also supervise investigations that include Americans about crimes in Kabul. For his part, Judge Guillou was integrated into the team that, its then Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and other senior Israeli positions – in addition to the leader of the Palestine Radical Organization Hamás, Ibrahim el Masri – for alleged war crimes and against humanity in the offensive of that country in Gaza.
The four now face the blockade of the assets they could have in the United States, and the prohibition of transactions (including receipt of funds) with American citizens or entities.
In its statement, Rubio qualifies the Court as “a threat to national security that has been a legal war instrument (‘Lawfare’) against the United States and our nearby ally Israel.”
It is the third round of sanctions that Washington imposes against TPI personnel, whose authority has never recognized and who is not a member. In June he had already announced measures against four judges. In February, against, that a year earlier he had requested the arrest warrant against Netanyahu that the Court issued last November.
“The United States has been clear and firm in our opposition to the politicization of TPI, its abuse of power, contempt for our national sovereignty and abuse of its judicial functions,” says the State Department. “The United States government policy continues to undertake the actions we consider necessary to protect our soldiers, our sovereignty and our allies of illegitimate acts and without the basis of the International Criminal Court,” he adds.
Both France and the United Nations have expressed their protests with the measure. The French government has claimed that the sanctions be suspended immediately and has highlighted the importance of the work of this Court. “It is essential in the fight against impunity,” said the Gallic Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Hague Court was founded in 2002 and has international jurisdiction to judge suspects of war crimes, lesa humanity and genocide. But neither the United States nor Israel, ”said Russia or China – are ever recognized the body’s jurisdiction. Given Rubio’s calls against the Court, the TPI has urged its member countries to defend it. “We ask the members already those who share the values of humanity and the rule of law that firmly and consistently support this Court and its work, developed with the only interest of the victims of international crimes in mind,” he said.
Trump’s animosity against TPI comes from afar. Already during his presidential campaign last year he had warned that he would approve new punishments. In 2020, during his first mandate as president, the tycoon already issued a separate executive order by imposing travel prohibitions and the freezing of assets against the then chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. Last December, the president of the court, Judge Tomoko Akane, warned that the imposition of “would quickly undermine the court operations in all cases and situations, and would even endanger her own existence.”
