Japan protests Russia's extradition request for ICC president; pattern of great-power pressure on international criminal court emerges

According to The Hindu, the Japanese government on October 9 protested Russia's request to the Netherlands for the extradition of International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane and eight other court officials. On the surface, this is merely a continuation of Japan-Russia bilateral friction, but the incident itself reflects the multiple pressures that major powers have brought to bear on international criminal justice institutions — more than a year ago, the United States had already imposed sanctions on Akane herself and some dozen-odd ICC officials, on the grounds of retaliating against the court for its investigation into Israeli officials' conduct in the Gaza war and for holding U.S. military personnel accountable for their actions in Afghanistan.

Russia's Prosecutor General's Office on October 8 submitted to the Netherlands and several other countries requests to extradite the nine ICC officials, as retaliation for the International Criminal Court's issuance of an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin in 2023. Last year, a Moscow municipal court had already issued in absentia verdicts against Akane and the eight others, sentencing them to prison terms. According to TASS, the Russian side accused the ICC of violating fundamental principles of international law and issuing arrest warrants against Russian citizens "without evidence."

"Measures targeting individuals connected with the ICC are improper and unacceptable," Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said at a press conference on the 9th. "Nevertheless, the Russian side has filed extradition requests with multiple countries, and we express our regret." He added that Japan would "take appropriate responses, including lodging additional protests."

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, responding to questioning in the Diet on the 9th, struck a more direct tone: "We have consistently supported the ICC and will continue to do so." However, the Takaichi cabinet faces domestic criticism — Japan must strike a balance between supporting the Hague-based court and maintaining the Japan-U.S. alliance, while Washington itself is not a state party to the ICC.

In fact, U.S. pressure on the ICC predates that of Russia. Washington accused the ICC of "exceeding its authority" and imposed sanctions on Akane and roughly a dozen or more court officials, freezing their assets within U.S. jurisdiction and barring court officials and their families from entering the United States. These sanctions targeted the ICC's investigation into Israeli officials' conduct in the Gaza war and its investigation into the actions of U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.

Russia exerts pressure through domestic criminal verdicts and extradition requests; the United States through financial sanctions and entry bans — different paths, but pointing in a similar direction: when international criminal justice proceedings touch upon the interests of major powers themselves or their allies, state power is placed above judicial process. The ICC, an international institution that is supposed to stand above politics, is simultaneously under pressure from both Moscow and Washington.

Japan's relations with Russia were already strained. In August of this year, Putin visited a chain of Pacific islands that Japan claims sovereignty over — islands seized by the Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II and which remain the sticking point preventing Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty.

The next steps in Russia's extradition requests remain unclear. It is not known whether the Netherlands and other countries receiving the requests will act on or respond to them, whether Japan will take substantive diplomatic countermeasures beyond verbal protests, or how Japan will specifically balance its support for the ICC against its alliance with the United States.