Ukraine denounces Russia as 'terrorist state' at World Court hearing
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It was the first time lawyers for Ukraine and Russia met at the International Court of Justice.
PHOTO: AFP
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THE HAGUE – Ukraine on Tuesday called Russia a terrorist state at the top United Nations court, as hearings began in a case over Moscow’s backing of pro-Russian separatists blamed for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014.
It was the first time lawyers for Ukraine and Russia met at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court, since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022.
Legal teams with dozens of representatives were sent by each side.
A panel of 16 judges at the ICJ began hearing Ukraine’s claim that Moscow violated a UN anti-terrorism treaty by equipping and funding pro-Russian forces who shot down the jetliner, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
In the same claim, Ukraine has also asked the Hague-based court to order Russia to halt discrimination against the Crimean Tatar ethnic group in the Ukrainian peninsula, occupied by Russia in 2014.
In opening remarks, Ukrainian Ambassador-at-large Anton Korynevych commented on the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric dam hours earlier in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
Kyiv says Russia blew up the dam; the Kremlin has blamed Ukraine.
“Russia cannot defeat us on the battlefield, so it targets civilian infrastructure to try to freeze us into submission,” Mr Korynevych told hearings, describing Russia’s actions as “the actions of a terrorist state”.
“Just today, Russia blew up a major dam... causing significant civilian evacuations, ecological damages and threatening the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”
Russia will have an opportunity to respond to Ukraine’s case on Thursday.
Moscow has tried to get the case thrown out, arguing the court has no jurisdiction.
Flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made missile on July 17, 2014, over pro-Russian separatist-held eastern Ukraine.
In November 2022, a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist in absentia
Ukraine wants to court to decide that Moscow has breached the anti-terrorism treaty by supplying funds and weapons to pro-Russian forces in Ukraine since 2014, including the group that allegedly shot down MH17.
Russia boycotted hearings at the court in March 2022 that dealt with a request by Ukraine to impose emergency measures in another ICJ case, in which Kyiv is countering a Russian claim of genocide against Russian-speakers in Ukraine.
Kyiv calls that a bogus justification for Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine also argued Russia was discriminating against ethnic Ukrainians and Tatars in Crimea in an effort to erase their culture.
“(Russia) is pursuing a long-term project to erase the rights and culture that make Ukraine a proud, multi-ethnic nation, to wipe out what makes Ukrainians, Ukrainians, and what makes the Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatars,” said Mr Harold Koh, a lawyer for the Ukrainian government.
Russia denies systematic human rights abuses in Ukrainian territory it occupies.
Rulings of the ICJ, the UN’s top court for disputes between states, are binding but have no enforcement mechanism.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also the subject of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court,
