US uses ICC as political tool: Commentator

Russia has decided to withdraw from the founding statute of the International Criminal court (ICC) in protest at what Moscow defines as one-sided and inefficient activities of the tribunal. In a Wednesday statement, Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the ICC’s lack of independence in dealing with war cases. The statement read that in these conditions one cannot speak of trust in the International Criminal Court.

James Jatras, former US Senate foreign policy analyst, told Press TV’s Top 5 that the ICC is a political tool in the hands of the United States to use it against those who are not supporting the American foreign policy.

Jatras said, “The United States is perfectly happy to support the court (ICC) and use it as a political tool to advance ... misguided policies, but it is not and really cannot be an instrument of actual justice.”

“Unlike Russia, the United States’ government has been very very forthcoming in threatening to drag other people in front the ICC even though we (Americans) remain immune from it,” he added.

The analyst also touched upon the fact that “the ICC was never going to be an impartial tribunal” and it was used as an instrument to accuse and sue certain politicians, who were not in the United States’ front, while pro-American dictators have never been held accountable for their misconducts in front of the international tribunal.

There are some US-supported “accusations that [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad or even the Russians should be thrown in front of the ICC because of Aleppo [conflict], while you don’t hear anybody calling to send the Saudis or the Qataris to the ICC for supporting terrorists in Syria,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jatras expressed hope that new US administration under Donald Trump would follow Russian President Vladimir Putin and “make it clear that we (Americans) will not support the ICC.”

He also called on the Chinese and the Indians and other major powers to withdraw from the tribunal, hoping that as a result “it (ICC) would be a dead letter.”  

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the main reason for the country's withdrawal was the ICC's way of treating Russia's brief war with neighboring Georgia in 2008, adding that the international tribunal had ignored Georgia’s aggression against pro-Moscow civilians in the separatist region of South Ossetia.

The ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that is based in The Hague in the Netherlands. The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

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