First the prosecutors, then the judges. Now the president. Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge leading the International Criminal Court (ICC), bringing the offensive started with his return to the White House to the top of the institution in The Hague. A battle born around the proceedings on Israel and the old investigation on Afghanistan and that has become, in a year and a half, an open clash over the jurisdictional boundaries of the Court.
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For Akane, being placed on the US Treasury blacklist means freezing any assets under US jurisdiction, but above all the risk of being cut off from part of the international financial system. The weight of the sanctions, in fact, goes beyond American borders: banks, payment networks, and companies with interests in the United States may cut ties with the affected individuals to avoid exposing themselves.
The target of the White House is precisely the magistrate who in recent months has strongly denounced the risk that American pressure compromises the independence and functioning of the ICC. It all began a few weeks after Trump’s return to the Oval Office, when the president signed Executive Order 14203, accusing the Court of “illegitimate” actions against the United States and Israel and authorizing sanctions against those participating in investigations or proceedings against American citizens or allied countries not party to the Rome Statute.
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The first target was Karim Khan, then chief prosecutor of the ICC, who had requested arrest warrants – later issued – against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.
But this is only part of the story. In 2020 the ICC had authorized an investigation into alleged crimes committed during the conflict in Afghanistan, including possible responsibility of US personnel. A precedent that rekindled a fear rooted in American politics long before Trump: that an international court to which Washington has never acceded could judge US citizens.
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