THE HAGUE, Netherlands — For a few hours last week, the International Criminal Court looked poised to take a Libyan warlord into custody. Instead, member state Italy sent the head of a notorious network of detention centers back home.

It has issued 32 unsealed arrest warrants. Those suspects range from Netanyahu and Putin to Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and Gamlet Guchmazov, accused of torture in the breakaway region of South Ossetia in Georgia.

European officials had warned that the bill, prompted by an arrest warrant for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, would irreparably harm the institution.

The International Criminal Court has taken measures to shield staff from possible U.S. sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braces for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal,

Legislation that would have imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court in protest of its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister was blocked in the U.

The Senate voted Tuesday against advancing H.R. 23, which would impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), to the Senate floor. This follows the successful passage of the same bill in the House — by a 243 to 140 vote — earlier this month.

Te International Criminal Court ICC in The Hague, Netherlands. Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Senate Democrats blocked a bill sanctioning the International Criminal Court on Tuesday after Republicans rejected changes addressing their concerns.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked Republicans from advancing legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court, arguing the bill had sweeping consequences on allies and American businesses. Republicans failed to get the 60 votes needed to move the bill forward,

Senate Democrats voted to block a bill to sanction International Criminal Court officials over arrest warrants issued for top Israeli officials.