Credit: Greger Ravik (CC BY 2.0)

On 18 December, the US administration imposed sanctions on Judge Lordkipanidze and Judge Damdin for “having directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent”.

In a decision issued on 15 December by the ICC Appeals Chamber, the majority of the Appeals Chamber rejected Israel’s request to overturn an earlier Pre-Trial Chamber decision and, for the arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, to be declared null and void. Judge Damdin joined the majority, while Judge Lordkipanidze issued a concurring opinion.

Sanctions against the judges follow the designations under Executive Order 14203 of other ICC officials including the ICC prosecutor, the ICC deputy prosecutors, six ICC Judges, as well as a UN special rapporteur, and three civil society organisations cooperating with the Court. With the latest imposition of sanctions, the US has now imposed them on eight of the 18 ICC judges.

IBA executive director Dr Mark Ellis said: “The IBA condemns these coercive actions against the Court, which represent yet another threat to the international rules-based order. Driven by political motives and an apparent desire to punish ICC judges for decisions it dislikes, the Trump administration continues to deploy unilateral sanctions – a blatant effort to obstruct the prosecution of egregious international crimes.”