Antisemitism > Trump considering sanctioning ICC

 

Trump mulling sanctions on ICC judges over

Netanyahu arrest warrant – report

The president-elect is reportedly preparing a list of possible sanctions for the International Criminal Court, including personal measures targeting chief prosecutor Karim Khan and ICC judges, after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The incoming Trump administration is drafting a list of possible measures to take against the International Criminal Court at The Hague in response to the court’s decision Thursday to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported Friday.

U.S. sources cited in the Kan report said the president-elect and his advisers are currently mulling possible sanctions against the International Criminal Court, including punitive actions targeting not only ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, but also the ICC judges who signed off on the arrest warrants.

“The possibility is of imposing personal sanctions not only on the prosecutor or the court – but also on the judges themselves who issued the order,” one source was quoted as saying.

Trump’s National Security Advisor-designate Michael Waltz, who currently represents Florida’s 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, castigated the ICC’s decision Thursday as “antisemitic.”

“The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government,” Waltz tweeted.

“Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January.”

Congressional Republican leaders also condemned the ICC for issuing the arrest warrants, pledging to move forward with legislation sanctioning the court.

“The ICC’s decision to target America’s ally, Israel, is antisemitic, reprehensible, and completely ridiculous,” House Speaker Mike Johnson tweeted.

“It has absolutely no jurisdiction over Israel or the United States, and these illegitimate warrants are an attack on the very concepts of sovereignty and due process.”

“The U.S. Senate should vote immediately on the bipartisan Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, and President Biden should take clear steps to prevent these warrants from being enforced. If Senator Schumer and President Biden do not act now, they will most assuredly invite future lawfare against Israel and the United States. We cannot afford to show weakness.”

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Arrest Warrant should keep Yulia Navalnaya out of Russia for awhile

 

Moscow court issues arrest warrant for

Navalny widow Yulia Navalnaya

By Clyde Hughes

July 10 (UPI) -- A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant against Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow approved the petition by the Main Investigative Directorate to issue the arrest warrant for Navalnaya for "participation in an extremist community," said Moscow's Court of General Jurisdiction in a translated message on Telegram.

"The court granted the investigation's request and chose a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of two months," the court said, noting that Navalnaya was not on a wanted list.

"The period is calculated from the month of extradition to the territory of the Russian Federation or from the moment of detention on the territory of the Russian Federation."

The charges brought in absentia against Navalnaya, who lives outside of Russia, mean she would be arrested if she returned to the country.

Therein lies the message. The point is to keep Yulia out of Russia. Hopefully she will never return as it is unlikely that she would survive two months in custody. 

Navalnaya bristled at the news of the Moscow arrest warrant, targeting her criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"When you write about this, please do not forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal," Navalnaya said on X. "His place is in a prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cozy cell with a TV, but in Russia -- in the same colony and same 2-by-3-meter cell in which he killed Alexei."

Navalny, one of Putin's harshest and most prominent critics died while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges in a Russian penal colony in February, with international leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden blaming Putin for his death.

Navalnaya charged that her husband had been tortured and starved before he died, but Russian officials said he died of natural causes.

Russian officials designated several organizations run by Navalny, including his Anti-Corruption Foundation, as "extremist" groups. That designation put all its workers and volunteers at risk of criminal prosecution.

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Former Philippines First Lady, Imelda Marcos, Convicted of Embezzling $200M

Corruption is Everywhere and Certainly was in Marcos' Philippines

By Nicholas Sakelaris

Imelda Marcos was convicted on seven charges of graft dating back to time as first lady of the Philippines.

Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA/EFE

UPI -- Former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos was convicted on seven charges of graft related to the theft of up to $200 million from her nearly two decades in office.

Marcos, 89, currently has a seat in Congress and was not present for the sentencing. She faces between 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the seven charges. She used banks in Switzerland to transfer the money.

In a statement, Marcos said her attorney is studying the verdict and she intends to file a motion asking the court to reconsider. She could also appeal the decision, which could drag on for several more years.

An arrest warrant was ordered for Marcos because she failed to appear in court.

The corruption charges make up a fraction of the billions of dollars Marcos, a former beauty queen, and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, are believed to have acquired through illegal means. 

Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, a violent period of martial law in the Pacific nation. The government was overthrown in 1986, forcing the ruling family to flee to the United States where Ferdinand Marcos died in 1989. Imelda Marcos later returned to the country where the family has made a comeback.

Still, the charges have hung over the politically powerful Marcos family since 1991 and the timing could jeopardize the next generation. The family is an important ally of populist President Rodrigo Duterte. A government spokesman said the government respects the ruling.

Imelda was infamous for having thousands of pairs of shoes! 

Brazilian Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Ex-President Lula

Corruption is Everywhere - Brazil Presidential Politics

A supporter of former Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva shows a cardboard that's reads

"No prison for Lula!" © Paulo Whitaker / Reuters

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been ordered to turn himself in by Friday afternoon to begin serving his 12 year sentence, after an appeals court authorized his immediate arrest on a conviction for graft.

The arrest warrant was issued by Brazilian federal Judge Sergio Moro on Thursday, a day after Supreme Federal Court (STF) dismissed Lula’s plea to remain free while he appeals the corruption conviction, which he dismisses as machinations by his political opponents.

According to the arrest order, Lula has until 5 pm local time Friday to turn himself to Federal Police in Curitiba. Apparently in order to avoid an escalation of tensions with Lula’s supporters, the federal judge barred authorities from using handcuffs on the former Brazilian president.

Due to the “dignity of the position” Lula had previously held, he will begin serving his prison term in specially reserved quarters, Moro's office was quoted as saying. “The former president will be separated from the other prisoners, without any risk for moral or physical integrity.”

One of Brazil's most popular political figures, da Silva, simply known as Lula, was convicted of money laundering and of passive corruption last July, and was sentenced to nine years behind bars. An appeals court in January upheld Lula's conviction and the court increased his sentence to 12 years. The latest developments would apparently block Lula’s re-election bid, despite strong public support.