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IAP Condemns Sanctions Against Officials of the ICC

10/8/2020

The IAP condemns the imposition of sanctions against the ICC Prosecutor and a member of her Office.


The IAP condemns the imposition of sanctions against the ICC Prosecutor and a member of her Office. Any attempt to subvert the work of independent prosecutors is intolerable and the fundamental principles of criminal justice must be safeguarded at all costs. The Office of the ICC Prosecutor, which is an organizational member of the IAP, operates independently within the ICC, and the use of punitive sanctions against its personnel is an affront to the rule of law, and must be denounced unequivocally.

The IAP, therefore, calls on the United States to withdraw its coercive measures forthwith, and to fully respect the prosecutorial safeguards to which the Office of the ICC Prosecutor is entitled under international law and practice.

 

On September 2, 2020  the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced the imposition of punitive sanctions against the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and one of her senior officials, Phakiso Mochochoko, thereby giving effect to the Presidential Executive Order issued on June 11 2020, which declared a national emergency and authorized asset freezes and family entry bans against the ICC’s personnel involved in investigating potential crimes in accordance with the Rome Statute.

The International Association of Prosecutors (IAP)  is the only world organization of prosecutors, prosecuting authorities and associations. It covers six continents and over 175 jurisdictions, representing over 350,000 prosecutors.