Sanctioned ICC head’s former students demand action from Tokyo
A group of lawyers who studied under International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane have submitted a petition with over 170,000 signatures to the Japanese government, demanding it take action to get U.S. sanctions against her lifted.
“Japan, which maintains a relationship of trust with the United States, can play a role in safeguarding the ICC’s independence,” Kentaro Uematsu, who represents the group, told a news conference.
The petition was submitted to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki on Thursday. Members of the group studied under Akane when she was professor at Nagoya University’s School of Law.
Lawyer Yosuke Shamoto, who was present when the petition was submitted, said Ozaki told the group that the government had clearly conveyed to Washington its support for the ICC.
The signatures were collected online in about a month.
According to the group, Akane expressed her gratitude, saying that although individuals may seem small on their own, they are by no means powerless.
“We intend to take concrete steps within our reach,“ Uematsu said.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.