Trump administration sanctions two more International Criminal Court judges for investigating Israel
By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
(CNN) — The United States sanctioned two more judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC) – the latest step in the Trump administration’s campaign to punish those involved with efforts to investigate Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said he was imposing sanctions against Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia for being “directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent, including voting with the majority in favor of the ICC’s ruling against Israel’s appeal on December 15.”
On Monday, the Hague-based court rejected Israel’s bid to block the ongoing probe into its alleged crimes in Gaza.
In a statement Thursday, the ICC denounced the new sanctions, calling them “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution.”
“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the statement said.
The US and Israel have repeatedly rejected the authority of the ICC to investigate either country’s conduct.
“We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject U.S. and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction,” Rubio said in a statement Thursday.
“We will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to the ICC’s lawfare and overreach,” he said.
The Trump administration has imposed a slew of sanctions on ICC judges and its chief prosecutor, as well as organizations it said have supported the investigation.
The court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court also issued arrest warrants for three top Hamas officials.
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