In February 2025, the United States imposed sanctions on 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor. The sanctions were a response to the court’s arrest warrants for members of the Israeli cabinet, including Benjamin Netanyahu. The measures include travel bans and asset freezes, effectively cutting off those affected from the European financial system.
Bensouda, who served as chief prosecutor in The Hague from 2012 to 2021, spoke at an event organized by the Rights Forum. She said: ‘These are coercive attempts to hinder the independent exercise of judicial and prosecutorial functions that exist under international law.’ If the international community does not respond decisively, the consequences will reach far beyond The Hague.
Without naming the United States directly, Bensouda criticized: ‘Using such instruments against prosecutors, judges or court officials who are acting in the exercise of their judicial duties to prosecute the most serious crimes is a profound conceptual distortion.’ She called the sanctions ‘thuggish and inappropriate’ and accused the US of turning disagreements over legal proceedings into ‘crippling economic coercion’.
The former chief prosecutor also criticized the states associated with the ICC. Their responses, she said, had been ‘largely slow and timid’, lacking ‘tangible support and countermeasures’ against the coercive measures.
Source: www.theguardian.com
