32 countries join Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia in UN court

Deutsche Welle reported the information on Friday, June 9, citing the court's press service.

The International Court of Justice has accepted requests from 32 countries to back Ukraine in the lawsuit against Russia for violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The decision was made by a vote of 14 judges against one.

During the preliminary objections stage, 26 European Union countries, along with Hungary, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Liechtenstein, and the United Kingdom, joined Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia. However, the United States was unanimously denied permission to join the lawsuit by the UN court.

Now the court must decide whether it has the authority to open the main trial, and Ukraine's allies want to confirm this with their own statements.

Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice regarding Russia's violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on February 26, 2022. Russia did not participate in the hearing on March 7, 2022. On March 16, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling on provisional measures ordering Russia to immediately cease hostilities against Ukraine.

Meanwhile, another lawsuit filed by Ukraine against Russia is being considered by the UN court related to Russia's alleged violation of two international conventions - on the financing of terrorism and the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. The hearings began on June 6 and are scheduled to end on June 14.

The UN court is expected to take several months to reach a decision, and its verdict will be binding on both parties. Anton Korynevych, the Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, stated that this is the first case where Ukraine has taken Russia to an international court and reached the stage of consideration on the merits.

Ukraine filed an application with the UN court in 2017 in connection with the actions of pro-Russian separatists in 2014 in Donbas and the Russian "authorities" in the illegally annexed Crimea. In April 2017, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling on Ukraine's request for provisional measures in this case. It established, in particular, that in Crimea Russia should refrain from imposing restrictions on the work of Crimean Tatar community institutions, including the Mejlis, and ensure access to education in the Ukrainian language.

• On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

• On March 23, the government of Ukraine signed a memorandum with the court in The Hague to establish an office of the International Criminal Court in Kyiv.