NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2018) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed on Monday requested all legal documents behind the new Trump administration's threats to prosecute officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
White House National Security Adviser John Bolton in a speech at the Federalist Society on September 10 said the Trump administration would ban, sanction and prosecute all ICC officials involved with investigating potential human rights abuses committed by US personnel in Afghanistan.
"The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding the Trump administration release all documents concerning the United States' new policy towards the International Criminal Court, as described in National Security Advisor John Bolton's speech," the ACLU said in a press release accompanying the FOIA filing.
The ACLU also said the Trump administration lacks the authority to follow through on such threats. In the FOIA request, the ACLU asked US State and Justice Department lawyers to provide any legal analysis offered to justify sanctioning ICC personnel.
In a 2016 report the ICC alleged that US personnel were involved with abuse of detainees during interrogations tied to the war in Afghanistan. Last November, ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the court was going to carry out a more detailed investigation into the matter.
The United States signed but never ratified the 2000 Rome Statute, which established the UN-backed ICC.
