President Trump on Thursday issued an executive order authorizing sanctions against anyone involved in an International Criminal Court investigation of Americans or US allies — as aides say Russia may be behind a probe of the war in Afghanistan.
The international court’s appeals chamber in March authorized an investigation of possible Afghanistan war crimes, rebuffing previous US warnings, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last year threatening visa bans on participants.
The sweeping new order allows Pompeo to impose harsh economic penalties on ICC workers and any person or group that helps with investigations of the US or allies.
“There is Russian influence here,” a senior administration official told a small group of reporters Thursday, adding that further information likely will be made public in “coming days.”
“We are concerned that Russia may be manipulating the ICC by encouraging these allegations against US personnel,” the official said.
The investigation of the war in Afghanistan is one of 13 currently being pursued by the Netherlands-based court. It was requested by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a citizen of The Gambia.
“The ICC investigation with respect to Afghanistan is being pushed forward by an organization of dubious integrity, and may be the target of corrupt, malign influence by Russia and others,” the senior US official said. “Further, we have reason to believe there’s corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the ICC’s office of prosecutor, calling into question the integrity of this investigation into American personnel.”
Although unloaded to deter investigation of US troops in Afghanistan, the order ultimately may protect other US allies who participated in the Afghanistan war, or Israel.
“The ICC in recent months has made moves toward opening investigations of Israel, with respect to the situation with the Palestinians,” the official said. “If the ICC continues down that road, that could be another potential target for designations and sanctions under this order.”
Spokespeople for the ICC and the Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ICC was established by the Rome Statute of 1998, a treaty ratified by 123 countries. The US isn’t a participant, nor is Russia or China. ICC trials convicted and jailed war criminals from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
In a statement, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the ICC “was established to provide accountability for war crimes, but in practice it has been an unaccountable and ineffective international bureaucracy that targets and threatens United States personnel as well as personnel of our allies and partners.”
“As the President’s Executive Order makes clear, the United States will continue to use any means necessary to protect our citizens and our allies from unjust prosecution by the International Criminal Court,” McEnany said.
The text of the order authorizes the secretary of state, in consultation with the treasury secretary and attorney general, to freeze the assets of anyone who is “engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any United States personnel” or those of “a country that is an ally.”
It further allows action against people or groups that “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of” such investigations.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a Thursday press conference that ICC trials can convict people using hearsay and that defendants aren’t allowed a jury or speedy trial as guaranteed by the US Constitution. “We cannot and will not stand by when our people are threatened by a kangaroo court,” Pompeo said.
Attorney General William Barr repeated the allegation against Russia, saying, “We are concerned that foreign powers like Russia are also manipulating the ICC in pursuit of their own agenda.”
The US official who briefed reporters said they hope the severe potential penalties, made along with a national emergency declaration, will work where previous threats failed.
“There are roughly 1,000 employees of the International Criminal Court. The exact number that are participating in this investigation remain to be seen. Certainly it is our hope that this sends a strong message to the ICC to desist in this investigation,” the senior administration official said. “For countries that may be presented with requests from the ICC, we similarly in this order make clear to them that there will be consequences for participating or providing assistance.”