“Faced with such open illegality, is this court completely powerless to stop it?” Harold Khunju Koch, one of the lawyers representing Ukraine, asked in court on Monday.
The story continues under the ad
“The answer,” he said, “should be no.” ”
Ukraine is seeking an emergency order that would require Russia to stop its invasion. On March 1, International Court of Justice President Joan E. Donoghue urged Russia’s foreign minister to “act in such a way” that the court’s ruling, which could be made within a few days, could “have appropriate consequences.” Theoretically, any violations can end up in the consideration of the UN Security Council, which, according to the UN Charter, can “decide what measures should be taken to implement the decision.”
But as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, Russia is likely to be able to veto any such measure, making the ICJ decision largely symbolic.
On March 7, Ukraine’s civilian death toll rose as the country entered another round of talks with Russia. (Alexa Juliana Ard/The Washington Post)
The case centers on Russia’s official explanation for its invasion of Ukraine, which Putin says is aimed at ensuring the “denazification” of Ukraine and ending the “genocide” in the country’s east. There is no evidence to support Russia’s claims.
The story continues under the ad
On Monday, Ukrainian officials confirmed that the Russian allegations are false and constitute a pretext for an illegal invasion. Since both Russia and Ukraine have ratified the 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, Ukraine argues that the International Court of Justice can rule based on Russia’s statements.
“Ukraine comes to this court because of grotesque lies and seeking protection from the devastating consequences of these lies,” said David Sionts, one of Ukraine’s lawyers. “Lies are the statements of the Russian Federation about the genocide in Ukraine. The consequences are unprovoked aggression, besieged cities, shelling of civilians,” he said.
As the trial began on Monday, Chief Justice Donoghue said the Russian embassy in the Netherlands had informed the court that the Russian government “does not intend to participate in the oral proceedings.”
The story continues under the ad
One of the longtime lawyers who previously represented Russia in the ICJ, Alain Pellet, resigned last week, writing in an open letter that “it has become impossible to represent in forums devoted to the application of the law a country that so cynically despises it.” “.
Since Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, Ukraine has looked for many ways to hold Russia legally accountable, but has consistently met with refusals or evasive tactics.
After the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled in 2019 that Russia must release two dozen captured Ukrainian sailors, the Russian Foreign Ministry disputed that Ukraine relied on a UN convention to apply its case to the dispute. The sailors were later released under a separate deal between Kiev and Moscow.
The story continues under the ad
Another option to hold Russia accountable for invading Ukraine could be through the International Criminal Court (ICC), another international institution based in The Hague that deals with some of the most egregious crimes in conflicts. Unlike the ICJ, the ICC can bring cases against persons accused of war crimes.
But that would require the defendant to be present in court and the court to have jurisdiction. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have ratified the ICC treaty, meaning that the court’s jurisdiction may be in doubt.
The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, appears to remain open to prosecuting the case, saying last week that the organization has jurisdiction because Ukraine has accepted ICC jurisdiction in the past.
The story continues under the ad
The International Criminal Court has already launched an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine in recent years. The ICC’s 2020 Preliminary Report found what it said was “reasonable grounds to believe” that separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine had committed numerous war crimes, including murder, rape, torture, false imprisonment and deliberate attacks on civilians. .
Last week, the attention of ICC investigators expanded to possible war crimes committed in the current invasion, after more than three dozen countries took the conflict to court. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also called for an international tribunal to intervene, saying Russia’s shelling of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv amounted to a war crime.
The highest-ranking possible target of such an investigation could be Putin.
However, in order for Putin to appear before the ICC, there are only two possible ways: he will need to be arrested and handed over – either to another country to which he is going, or to the new Russian government, which he no longer leads.
Hannah Knowles and Maria Luisa Paul contributed to this report.