Hearings on the merits of the lawsuit filed in 2017 by Ukraine against the Russian Federation, in connection with the violation of two UN conventions, began at the International Court of Justice.
The claim on Crimea and Donbass is considered in the case “Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention for the Suppression of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russia), informs correspondent for European Pravda in The Hague.
The first round of hearings began on June 6 at the Peace Palace in The Hague: the Ukrainian side brings its oral arguments. Two sessions are scheduled, three hours each. Then on Thursday, June 8, the Russian side will present its arguments. The second round will be held on June 12 (Ukrainian side) and June 14 (Russian side).
Ambassador-at-Large to the Foreign Ministry Anton Korynevych heads the Ukrainian delegation. This is the main representative of Ukraine in matters relating to the international legal prosecution of the Russian Federation. His deputy is Oksana Zolotareva, director of the Department of International Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Ukraine filed a lawsuit on January 16, 2017, European Pravda recalls. Kiev argues in it that Russia violated the first convention by arming the paramilitary groups of its puppet “republics” in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and the second by its policy towards non-Russian ethnic groups in the occupied Crimea.
In April of the same year, the court issued an interim ruling and ordered the Russian Federation not to limit the ability of Crimean Tatars to maintain their representative institutions, including the Mejlis, and to ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian language. In November 2019, all Russian arguments regarding the jurisdiction of the court and the admissibility of the case were rejected by the court, which was a complete victory for Ukraine at that stage of the consideration.
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