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Thirty-three countries supported Ukraine in the genocide lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands. Photo/REUTERS
THE HAGUE – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has received requests from 33 countries for support Ukraine in the genocide lawsuit against Russia.
The UN’s highest court announced it on Friday. This is the largest number of countries to join another country’s complaint at the international court based in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Ukrainian government launched a creative legal case days after Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
The Kremlin refused to hold a hearing the following month, while protesters holding Ukrainian flags chanted anti-war slogans outside the courthouse gates.
Latvia was the first country to intervene in the complaint, which accuses Russia of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, and using it as a pretext for invasion.
It was recorded that 34 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and every European Union member country except Hungary asked to participate on the Ukrainian side in the lawsuit. However, the UN tribunal judge rejected the US request because of technical problems.
“The court concluded that the declarations of intervention submitted in this case, except for those submitted by the United States, are admissible,” said the ICJ judges.
Any country that has signed a post-World War II agreement that criminalizes genocide is permitted to intervene in cases brought under the agreement.
The United States did not accept any part of the Genocide Convention when it signed the treaty, so a judge ruled that country had no right to participate.
