Rep. Ilhan Omar Slams ‘Hypocrisy’ In Calls For A Putin Trial At ICC

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is speaking up against what she calls “hypocrisy” in mounting calls to put Russian President Vladimir Putin to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes, considering that the U.S. has been blocking the investigation and prosecution of Americans under a 2002 measure that Omar wants revoked.

Omar suggested that the United States should become a member of the international court if it wants to legitimately call for Putin’s prosecution.

Speaking with The Huffington Post, Omar said Wednesday that the U.S. has been engaging “in a process for a long time of delegitimizing these international institutions that essentially call for accountability, and I think it is really disturbing that we now think they are powerful enough … to hold Russia accountable. It’s easy for people to see the hypocrisy in those two statements when we’ve said previously that we don’t believe in the ability of the court to (be) unbiased.”

Omar noted the importance of not having “a law on the books that says in many ways it is OK for everyone to be prosecuted” except Americans. The Hague Invasion Act of 2002 provides the U.S. military with the authority to liberate Americans being held by the ICC. Omar added that it would be a “much more powerful” statement if the U.S. “didn’t just call for accountability for war crimes in Ukraine in holding Russians accountable for the possible war crimes they have committed but if we actually had skin in the game.”

The progressive lawmaker's comments come as more American officials, conservatives and progressives included, have started calling for reforms in the country’s approach toward global affairs in a bid to show more sincerity in condemning reported war crimes in Ukraine.

Officials with knowledge of Biden administration deliberations told The New York Times earlier this week that while the team wants Putin tried by the ICC, there are concerns that the Hague Invasion Act and a separate 1999 law that blocks taxpayer money from being spent on supporting the ICC, may limit the U.S. government’s ability to support a trial for Putin.

The U.S. has been objecting to the ICC’s jurisdiction over countries that are not part of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court. Furthermore, Russia is not a member of the ICC as it did not ratify the agreement to become a member of the Rome statute, BBC News reported. In 2016, Putin approved an order to withdraw Russia from the process of being an ICC member. Ukraine is also not a member of the ICC.

Questions have also been raised regarding the U.S. position on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by both American forces and Taliban militants. Jamil Dakwar, Director of the Human Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told VOA that he believes that the U.S. “is still seen as hypocritical in the way it’s engaging with the ICC, because it says as long as the ICC is not addressing or not dealing with accountability for our own conduct, we will be fine with that.”

Officials told The Times that the Biden administration is focused on compiling evidence of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine as the war continues. The administration’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said last week when asked by a reporter regarding a possible Putin prosecution through the ICC that the U.S. has to “consult with our allies and partners on what makes most sense as a mechanism moving forward.”