US imposes sanctions on Georgian, Mongolian ICC judges over Israel case

The United States has sanctioned two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, one from Georgia and one from Mongolia, for ruling against Israel in an ICC case without Israel’s consent.

According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement, released by the State Department, the sanctions target Georgian judge Gocha Lordkipanidze and Mongolian judge Erdenebalsuren Damdin, Caliber.Az reports.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent, including voting with the majority in favour of the ICC’s ruling against Israel’s appeal on December 15,” Rubio said.

He added that the ICC continues to engage in politicised actions against Israel, creating “a dangerous precedent for all states." 

"We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject U.S. and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction,” the secretary's statement read.

At the same time, the US Treasury Department issued a general licence allowing, until January 17, 2026, the conduct of transactions necessary to complete all financial operations involving the two ICC judges subject to US sanctions.

The International Criminal Court was established under the 1998 Rome Statute. It is not part of the UN and is accountable to the countries that have ratified the statute. Among the states that are not parties to the statute are Russia (signed but not ratified), the United States (signed but later withdrew its signature), and China (never signed). 

In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree stating that Russia would not join the ICC. According to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the court “has not fulfilled the expectations placed upon it and has not become a truly independent body of international justice.”

By Jeyhun Aghazada