ICC relations with US undergoing ‘reset’ with Biden, prosecutor says

An International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor says that the United States is going through a “reset” under President Biden, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in an interview with the newswire service that the ICC is in a better situation with Biden as president than with former President Trump.  

The Trump administration sanctioned Bensouda for investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity that U.S. troops and allied forces allegedly committed in Afghanistan.

“We are at a more helpful place now because the Biden administration has decided to lift those sanctions and both the administration and ourselves, we are working on some kind of a reset that is the relationship between the ICC and the U.S. administration,” Bensouda told the AP. 

Bensouda was hit with a travel ban in March 2019, and her U.S. assets were frozen; she believed that a “red line” was crossed with the sanctions. 

“I do believe that it was wrong. Really, a red line has been crossed,” Bensouda told the AP. 

In April, Biden lifted the sanctions against Bensouda and the ICC, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Washington still disagrees with some of the actions the court has taken.

Bensouda is set to leave her position as chief prosecutor, with British lawyer Karim Khan succeeding her, according to the AP.