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GMA Network
5 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Trump administration imposes sanctions on four ICC judges in unprecedented move
A general view of the International Criminal Court on the day former president Rodrigo Duterte arrives at Rotterdam The Hague Airport after his arrest at the request of the ICC, in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025. REUTERS/ Wolfgang Rattay/File photo WASHINGTON/THE HAGUE - President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC), an unprecedented retaliation over the war tribunal's issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Washington designated Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia, according to a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC's illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel. The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies," Rubio said. The ICC slammed the move, saying it was an attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution that provides hope and justice to millions of victims of "unimaginable atrocities." Both judges Bossa and Ibanez Carranza have been on the ICC bench since 2018. In 2020 they were involved in an appeals chamber decision that allowed the ICC prosecutor to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan. Since 2021, the court had deprioritized the investigation into American troops in Afghanistan and focused on alleged crimes committed by the Afghan government and the Taliban forces. ICC judges also issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict. Alapini Gansou and Hohler ruled to authorize the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant, Rubio said. The move deepens the administration's animosity toward the court. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the court's work on Afghanistan. The measures also follow a January vote at the U.S. House of Representatives to punish the ICC in protest over its Netanyahu arrest warrant. The move underscored strong support among Trump's fellow Republicans for Israel's government. Difficult for ICC The measures triggered uproar among human-rights advocates. Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the punitive measures were a "flagrant attack on the rule of law at the same time as President Trump is working to undercut it at home." Sanctions severely hamper individuals' abilities to carry out even routine financial transactions as any banks with ties to the United States, or that conduct transactions in dollars, are expected to have to comply with the restrictions. But the Treasury Department also issued general licenses, including one allowing the wind-down of any existing transactions involving those targeted on Thursday until July 8, as long as any payment to them is made to a blocked, interest-bearing account located in the U.S. The new sanctions come at a difficult time for the ICC, which is already reeling from earlier U.S. sanctions against its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, who last month stepped aside temporarily amid a United Nations investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct. The ICC, which was established in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the U.N. Security Council. The United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members. It has high-profile war crimes investigations under way into the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russia's war in Ukraine as well as in Sudan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Venezuela and Afghanistan. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of deporting children from Ukraine, and for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza. Neither country is a member of the court and both deny the accusations and reject ICC jurisdiction. — Reuters
The Independent
12-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Philippine ex-president Duterte is heading to The Hague to face ICC charges linked to 'war on drugs'
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was being flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday to face an International Criminal Court charge of crimes against humanity linked to the deadly crackdown on drugs he oversaw while in office. The 79-year-old Duterte's arrest Tuesday on a warrant issued by the global court was hailed by human rights groups and families of victims as a major breakthrough and step toward ending impunity. Flight tracking data showed that after leaving Manila, the jet carrying Duterte waited for hours in Dubai before taking off again, apparently headed for Rotterdam The Hague Airport. The court didn't immediately comment on the flight, but Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday that police arrested Duterte when he returned from a trip to Hong Kong and sent him to the ICC. When he arrives in the Netherlands, he will be taken to the court's detention unit inside a Dutch prison complex near the North Sea coast. Rights groups and families of victims welcomed the arrest. 'This is a monumental and long-overdue step for justice for thousands of victims and their families," said Jerrie Abella of Amnesty International. "It is therefore a hopeful sign for them, as well, in the Philippines and beyond, as it shows that suspected perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, will face justice wherever they are in the world,' Abella added. Emily Soriano, the mother of a victim of the crackdowns, said she wanted more officials to face justice. "Duterte is lucky he has due process, but our children who were killed did not have due process,' she said. Duterte's supporters, however, criticized his arrest as illegal and sought to have him returned home. Small groups of Duterte supporters and people who backed his arrest demonstrated on Wednesday outside the court before his arrival. The ICC investigation The ICC opened an inquiry in 2021 into mass killings linked to the so-called war on drugs overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president. Estimates of the death toll during Duterte's presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported and up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups. ICC judges who looked at prosecution evidence supporting their request for his arrest found 'reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder' as an 'indirect co-perpetrator for having allegedly overseen the killings when he was mayor of Davao and later president of the Philippines," according to his warrant. What happens next? Within days of being taken into custody at the court's detention center, Duterte will be taken to court for a hearing. Judges will confirm his identity, check that he understands the charges against him and set a date for a hearing known as a confirmation of charges at which a panel of pretrial judges will assess if prosecutors have sufficient evidence to merit sending him to a full trial. Duterte could challenge the court's jurisdiction and the admissibility of the case. While the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, the alleged crimes happened before Manila withdrew from the court. That process will likely take months and if the case progresses to trial it could take years. Duterte will be able to apply for provisional release from the court's detention center while he waits, though it's up to judges to decide whether to grant such a request. Duterte's legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, told reporters in Manila that the Philippine Supreme Court "can compel the government to bring back the person arrested and detained without probable cause and compel the government bring him before the court and to explain to them why they (government) did what they did.' Marcos said Tuesday that Duterte's arrest was 'proper and correct' and not an act of political persecution. Duterte's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, criticized the Marcos administration for surrendering her father to a foreign court which currently has no jurisdiction to the Philippines. The Philippines is no longer a member state of the ICC Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the ICC, in a move human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability. The Duterte administration moved to suspend the global court's investigation in late 2021 by arguing that Philippine authorities were already looking into the same allegations, arguing that the ICC — a court of last resort — therefore didn't have jurisdiction. Appeals judges at the ICC rejected those arguments and ruled in 2023 that the investigation could resume. The ICC judges who issued the warrant also said that the alleged crimes fall within the court's jurisdiction. They said Duterte's arrest was necessary because of what they called the 'risk of interference with the investigations and the security of witnesses and victims.' ___ Aleksandar Furtula in The Hague, Joeal Calupitan and Basilio Sepe in Manila, Philippines, and Jerry Harmer in Bangkok, contributed to this report.
