Nicolas Guillou was not entirely surprised when he became the target of US sanctions in August 2025.

In his role as a judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Guillou had issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza. Months earlier, some of his colleagues at the court had been subjected to similar actions by the United States.

What was shocking was the scale of the sanctions. "At that time, it was not clear to us the degree of disruption they would cause in our daily lives," says Guillou.

Within days, he lost access to all services that depend on American companies. He could not have a US credit card and instead had to resort to cash and national payment systems such as iDEAL in the Netherlands to carry out online transactions.

Bank transfers were rejected. His hotel reservations on Booking.com and Expedia were canceled. He could not rent a bicycle from the city of Paris's public transportation service Vélib' Métropole, which requires a credit card guarantee. Packages delivered by UPS were returned to the sender. His health insurer attempted to cancel his coverage.