Assets of 4 female ICC judges frozen in the US

In its fight against the International Criminal Court, Washington has decided to sanction four of its judges. Two for the arrest warrants against Benyamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, and two for the investigation into crimes by American soldiers.

The United States has never recognised the right of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest and prosecute its citizens. Therefore, the institution’s decision to launch an investigation into potential crimes committed by American troops in Afghanistan displeased the US. Even though this investigation is currently at a standstill. Thus, the US Treasury announced that it had frozen the assets of judges who worked on this case, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza from Peru and Solomy Balungi Bossa from Uganda.

The Israel Case

Another sanction targets judges who enabled the issuing of arrest warrants in November 2024 against the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. As allies of Israel, the United States didn't accept that the ICC would consider those responsible for actions in Gaza to counter Hamas could be subject to charges of "war crimes" or "crimes against humanity". These are Reine Alapini-Gansou from Benin and Beti Holher from Slovenia. Strangely, the French judge Nicolas Guillou, who also sat on the panel, is not (yet) affected by the asset freeze... Incidentally, all four sanctioned judges are women!

(MH with Olivier Duquesne – Source: RFI – Picture: © picture alliance / NurPhoto | Jonathan Raa)