by Todd Buchwald, David Michael Crane, Benjamin Ferencz, Stephen J. Rapp, David Scheffer and Clint Williamson
(Just Security | March 18, 2020) On March 17, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated from the podium of the State Department Press Room that two explicitly named individuals in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court would face possible sanctions in connection with the Prosecutor’s investigation of the Afghanistan situation, an investigation approved by the Appeals Chamber of the Court on March 5, 2020. Set forth below is a statement by Americans who in the past worked to secure the investigation and prosecution of atrocity crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes):
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened two staffers of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and their families, with punitive sanctions in connection with the Court-approved investigation by the Prosecutor of the Afghanistan situation. This act of raw intimidation of the Prosecutor’s staff members is reckless and shocking in its display of fear rather than strength …
David M. Crane is a Syracuse University College of Law Distinguished Scholar in Residence.