The US Department of State has sanctioned four individuals serving as judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
As a result, all of their assets in the US were blocked.
“We do not take this step lightly. It reflects the seriousness of the threat we face from the ICC’s politicisation and abuse of power“, the State Department said in a press release.
Judges Solomy Balungi Bossa and Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza had authorised the ICC’s investigation against US personnel in Afghanistan, who were suspected of possibly being involved in war crimes there.
Reine Alapini-Gansou and Beti Hohler authorised the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged actions ordered in Gaza.
“As a result of today’s sanctions-related actions, all property and interests in property of the sanctioned persons described above that are in the United States or in possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)“, the State Department said.
“Additionally, all individuals or entities that are owned, either directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 per cent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.“
US citizens or anyone operating in or through the US were not allowed to deal with people or organisations that were on any government sanctions list, unless they had special permission from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
This ban covered giving or receiving money, goods, or services — whether directly or indirectly — to or from any sanctioned individual or group.
“As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“The ICC is politicised and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies,” he said.
“This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel.”
The @IntlCrimCourt’s baseless and politicized targeting of America and our close ally Israel must end. Today, I have sanctioned four ICC judges for infringing on U.S. and Israeli sovereignty – two who authorized the ICC’s baseless investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) June 5, 2025
In a reaction to the sanctions, the ICC expressed its “deep concern” and rejected the measures. It said the move was a threat to international justice.
“These new actions, in addition to an earlier designation of an elected official, are regrettable attempts to impede the Court and its personnel in the exercise of their independent judicial functions,” it said.
“We firmly and unequivocally reject these unilateral measures. They represent a regrettable affront to the independence of the Court and the integrity of the Rome Statute system.
“Such actions risk undermining global efforts to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes of concern to the international community and erode the shared commitment to the rule of law, the fight against impunity, and the preservation of a rules-based international order,” the ICC added.
Neither the US nor Israel is a member of the body and both have rejected its legitimacy. The court recently issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes linked to Israel’s military actions in Gaza following the Hamas attacks in October 2023, allegations Israel strongly denied.
During his first term, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC in response to investigations into Israel and alleged war crimes by US forces in Afghanistan. These were lifted by the then-president Joe Biden’s administration in early 2021.
The Hungarian parliament has voted in favour of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), finishing a process initiated earlier in April by the government. https://t.co/6SNvPQVjP0
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) April 29, 2025
