The United States has proven that it holds its own interests more important than international law by imposing sanctions against senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2020) The United States has proven that it holds its own interests more important than international law by imposing sanctions against senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday.
On Wednesday, the US designated ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Head of Jurisdiction, Complementary, and Cooperation Division Phakiso Mochochoko under its Office of Foreign Assets Control's Specially Designated Nationals List. The sanctions were in response to the Hague-based ICC's alleged bias in investigating possible atrocities committed by US troops during the conflict in Afghanistan.
"This once again shows that the current US diplomacy has become a diplomacy of sanctions, coercion and intimidation and that the United States puts its benefits above international law, becoming a destroyer of multilateralism and a violator of international rules and order," Hua said at a briefing.
The freshly-imposed sanctions ban the two ICC officials and their families from entering the US and might extend upon any person or organization providing them with financial assistance.
The ICC began the investigation into potential war crimes in Afghanistan at the request of Bensouda in March.
The US sought to stop the investigation from being launched at all since it was first flagged in 2017. This was done by introducing several rounds of sanctions against ICC officials, with the latest one applied in June.
