ICC LASHES OUT AT US, RUSSIA OVER THREATS ACCUSATIONS

This marks the first time the global court of justice calls out a sitting leader of a major Western ally.

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The president of the International Criminal Court lashed out at the United States and Russia for interfering with its investigations, calling threats and attacks on the court "appalling".

"The court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions by another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organisation," Judge Tomoko Akane, in her address to the institution's annual meeting, which opened on Monday.

Akane was referring to remarks made by US Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose Republican party will control both branches of Congress in January, and who called the court a "dangerous joke" and urged Congress to sanction its prosecutor.

"To any ally, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, if you try to help the ICC, we're going to sanction you," Graham said on Fox News.

This marks the first time the global court of justice calls out a sitting leader of a major Western ally.