On August 18, 2026, the United States Government added Tomoko Akane, President and Judge of the International Criminal Court (hereinafter “ICC”), and Abdoulaye Seye, a Senior Trial Lawyer with the ICC Office of the Prosecutor, to the list of individuals subject to sanctions — including entry bans into the United States and asset freezes — imposed pursuant to Executive Order 14203. As stated below, the Tohoku Federation of Bar Associations (hereinafter “TFBA”) strongly protests such measures and calls for the maintenance of the fully independent and unrestricted activities of the ICC.

　　The ICC was established pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (hereinafter “ICC Statute”), adopted in 1998, with the purpose to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes (see Preamble to ICC Statute), namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. The ICC is a universal and permanent international criminal tribunal tasked with the prosecution and punishment of individuals responsible for such crimes.

 　　ICC Statute entered into force on July 1, 2002, and as of 2026, the number of States Parties stands at 125. Judge Akane, previously worked as a public prosecutor in Japan, was appointed as an ICC Judge in March 2018, and has served as President of the ICC since March 2024.

　　In March 2023, the ICC issued warrants of arrest for President Putin and others on alleged war crimes in connection with Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. Subsequently, it was announced that, in December 2025, domestic Russian courts issued guilty verdicts — in absentia, without service of any summons — against nine ICC judges, prosecutors, and staff members, including Judge Akane, sentencing them to imprisonment ranging from three and a half to fifteen years.

　　Furthermore, in November 2024, the ICC issued warrants of arrest for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and others on allegation of war crimes and other offenses in connection with the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. In response, U.S. President Trump, on February 6, 2025, signed Executive Order 14203, imposing sanctions — including entry bans into the United States and asset freezes — on ICC personnel. Sanctions were imposed on the then-Chief Prosecutor of the ICC pursuant to that Executive Order, and the scope of sanctions was subsequently expanded to cover additional ICC judges, prosecutors and others.

　　In connection with these actions, the TFBA issued “Statement in Support of the Activities of the International Criminal Court and Calling for the Further Strengthening of the Rule of Law” on June 25, 2025, condemning the measures taken by Russia and the United States, and calling on the Japanese Government to declare its opposition to such measures, to pursue diplomatic efforts to bring about their withdrawal, and to provide ongoing human and financial support.

　　However, on August 18, 2026, the United States Government added Judge Akane and Abdoulaye Seye to the list of individuals subject to sanctions under the Executive Order. As a result, half of the ICC's eighteen (18) judges are now subject to sanctions, along with prosecutors and other staff members. In addition, the United States Government has called on ICC member states to withdraw from the ICC, and it has been reported that sanctions against the ICC itself are also under consideration.

　　In response to the United States Government's latest action expanding the list of sanctioned individuals, numerous statements and declarations of condemnation of the United States Government and support for the ICC have already been issued by the United Nations Secretary-General, the European Union, governments of various countries, NGOs, and organizations of legal profession such as bar associations.

　　Regarding her addition to the United States Government's sanctions list, Judge Akane held an online press conference at the Japan National Press Club on August 26, 2026. She explained that she had required extensive security whenever traveling, placing a significant human and financial burden on the ICC, and that the United States Government's latest action had already begun to affect her daily life — for example, she was no longer able to conduct transactions involving American companies. She stated: “The ICC will never be defeated”; “Justice will and should prevail”; and that she would “uphold that conviction.”

　　The TFBA also, as a Japanese legal organization, supports her conviction.  The TFBA considers that the unjust pressure being exerted on the ICC and the moves to diminish its capacity to function represent a fundamental attempt to overturn the principle — arrived at by the international community in the wake of two world wars — of maintaining international order not through “the justice of power” or “the rule of might,” but through “the rule of law.”

　　The TFBA also endorses the ICC's founding purpose of “putting an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes.” We believe that realizing this purpose requires maintaining the fully independent and unrestricted activities of the ICC.

　　To that end, the TFBA, 

1. Expresses the strongest possible condemnation of the series of unjust pressures being exerted on the ICC and its personnel, or the moves to diminish its functions.
2. Calls on those states engaging in unjust interference with or obstruction of the ICC to immediately withdraw such conduct and to refrain from similar conduct in the future.
3. Strongly urges the Japanese Government, which is recognized as the “standard bearer of the rule of law,” to exert maximum diplomatic efforts to bring about the immediate withdrawal of unjust interference with and obstruction of the ICC, and to provide continuing and effective support and information to the ICC and to Judge Akane.

 　　In addition to the above, The TFBA hereby declares that it will continue to monitor matters related to the ICC and spare no effort to support strongly with bar associations organizing the TFBA.

 September 12, 2026

Tohoku Federation of Bar Associations

President Tomohiro Onodera