Belgium wants a “strong and united” response to American sanctions against the ICC

The United States imposed sanctions last week against four judges of the ICC because they “actively participated in the unfounded actions of the Court against the US or ally Israel.” The sanctions freeze the assets of the targeted judges in the United States.

The judges are being targeted “simply because they performed their legal duties under the Rome Statute (on the basis of which the International Criminal Court was established, ed.). This is not just a political disagreement, but a direct attack on the independence of our judiciary and our core values,” Verlinden said on the sidelines of a meeting with her European colleagues in Luxembourg. She is also calling for a “strong, united, and determined political response” from the EU and its member states.

Verlinden is also urging a discussion on addressing the extraterritorial impact of the American sanctions, especially since one of the judges, Slovenian Beti Hohler, is an EU citizen. She is requesting “an urgent review” by the European Commission of the applicability of the blocking regulation, “to see how we can protect EU citizens and institutions from the effects of such unilateral actions.”