US imposes sanctions on Georgian judge, head of ICC appeals chamber
US imposes sanctions on two ICC judges
The US has imposed sanctions on two judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – Georgia’s Gochi Lortkipanidze and his Mongolian colleague Erdenebalsuren Damdin.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the judges “directly participated in unlawful ICC actions targeting Israel,” including investigations, attempts to arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli citizens without Israel’s consent. In particular, they voted on the ICC decision of 15 December, which rejected Israel’s appeal.
The sanctions were imposed under a US presidential order “on imposing sanctions against the International Criminal Court.”
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Galant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On Monday, 15 December, the Hague court rejected Israel’s request to halt the ongoing investigation into alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza.
The United States said neither it nor Israel are parties to the Rome Statute and therefore do not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.
“We will not tolerate abuse of power by the International Criminal Court infringing on the sovereignty of the United States and Israel,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement published on 18 December.
Gochа Lortkipanidze, the ICC judge now under US sanctions, served as Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Justice from 2013 to 2020. He was appointed Minister of Justice in 2020–2021 and elected as an ICC judge in The Hague in December 2020. In 2024, Lortkipanidze became the President of the Appeals Chamber, the court’s highest structural body.
US imposes sanctions on two ICC judges
