president of the UNITED states, Donald Trump, has a new decree opened up to impose sanctions against staff members of The International Criminal court (ICC).
the Court is investigating whether american soldiers have committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
– We can not and will not see when our people are threatened by a parody of a court, says the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.
attorney general William Barr accuses Russia of playing a role in the case.
– Foreign powers such as Russia manipulates also the ICC, because it serves their agenda, says Barr, according to the AFP news agency.
An anonymous senior official in the Trump-the government says to the news agency Reuters that the investigation ‘is promoted by an organization with questionable integrity’. It is seen as an allusion to the court, which the UNITED states is not a member of.
He also says that the investigation threatens to violate AMERICA’s sovereignty.
The american threats of sanctions to meet with the concern in the EU.
– This is certainly something that creates great concern, because we in the EU are steadfast supporters of The International Criminal court, says the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.
ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, asked in 2017 about the law to conduct a comprehensive investigation of possible crimes in Afghanistan.
The investigation can be directed against both the Taliban that american soldiers may have tortured prisoners in their custody.
Trump has in a letter informed the president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to persons employed in the ICC and their family members can’t get visas to the UNITED states.
the Decree also gives the u.s. secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, the possibility, in consultation with the minister of finance Steven Mnuchin – to freeze any ICC-employees may have in the UNITED states.
already the ICC-employees subject to penalties, which Trump introduced a year ago.
Trump has repeatedly criticised the ICC.
the Court, based in the Hague, in the Netherlands, was established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It has the only option to make, if a state is unwilling or unable to prosecute these serious crimes.
the UNITED states has never been a member of the court of justice. It is Afghanistan, however.
the ICC opened an investigation of possible u.s. war crimes in Afghanistan, according to a feasibility study in 2017 had concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that there were war crimes.
