On January 31, the Court in The Hague will announce a historic verdict in Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia: what will be the consequences

On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, an event of historic significance for Ukraine and the world is to take place. At 16:00 Kyiv time, the International Court of Justice will announce a decision on the merits of Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia regarding the latter's violation of the Conventions on the Prohibition of the Financing of Terrorism and on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

This is stated in a statement on the court's website. In this case, Ukraine argues that the terrorist state Russia has violated the relevant conventions by arming the groups of the "republics" under its control in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In addition, it refers to discrimination by the Russian Federation against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, the ban on the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, as well as disappearances, murders and illegal searches and detentions in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Lana Zerkal also posted on Facebook about the historic decision. She explained the consequences of the verdict.

"Tomorrow this court will recognize Russia as a violator of international law. This will become a historic precedent - Ukraine will receive a legally established right to adequate compensation for violation of these international treaties. The ICJ's decision will also be crucial for the further development and application of international law in the field of combating the financing of terrorism and racial discrimination," the diplomat added.

According to Zerkal, the Court will in fact determine whether a state that is a permanent member of the UN Security Council can violate all norms of international law with impunity, manipulate facts and cynically lie to the world by spreading its dirty propaganda.

"For now, Russia is trying to prove to the world that in the face of a 'powerful nation', the rule of law and this Court mean nothing. The judgment in this case will be the first legal response of the civilized world to Russia's grandiose disregard for international law and the International Court of Justice in particular. What are we proving in this case? In the case, which we have been preparing for a long time and carefully, we prove that Russian officials deliberately financed terrorist acts in Ukraine," Zerkal emphasized.

She also reminded that in November 2019, she had won her first and significant victory.

"At that time, the ICJ rejected all the objections raised by Russia and its prominent lawyers to the Court's jurisdiction to hear the case on Ukraine's claim for the application of the International Conventions for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In fact, these photos from the history of the process illustrate only a small part of the nine-year work," Zerkal said in her post.

The first photo shows the number of volumes that each copy of the Memorandum (a document that sets out legal positions and facts) consists of.

On the other, this is the exact moment when Zerkal signed each copy.

The third step is to present Ukraine's position to the full Court.

Zerkal recalled that the Russians supplied money, missiles and bombs to illegal armed groups, knowing that they would be used to kill, coerce and intimidate civilians.

"This is not a story of 'mistakes', but a clearly defined pattern. When Russian individuals provided money and weapons to the perpetrators of terrorist acts, they clearly knew how these funds would be used. When the so-called "DPR" fired a weapon that could not distinguish between civilian and military aircraft, it meant that the terrorists had illegally and intentionally destroyed the plane in violation of the Montreal Convention. When Russian officials provided the "DPR" with the Buk system, they knew that it was going to be used for a terrorist attack," emphasized Zerkal.

She also noted that many discriminatory actions of the Russian authorities were aimed at destroying or violating the human rights of two ethnic groups in Crimea: the Crimean Tatars and the Ukrainian community. In the annexed Crimea, these two ethnic groups have been targeted by Russia to collectively punish them for their principled resistance.

According to Zerkal, Russia's discriminatory actions concern not only many aspects of the political and cultural life of these communities, but also "behavioral patterns."

"Taken together, Russia's actions constitute a consistent pattern of punitive actions against ethnic groups for discriminatory purposes. The International Court of Justice can recognize Russia's violation of its international obligations to prohibit the financing of terrorism and racial discrimination; clarify the fundamental standards of these conventions. Order Russia to fulfill the requirements of both conventions. To maintain permanent jurisdiction to keep Russia's actions under continuous judicial supervision until full and fair compensation is determined," she said.

According to Zerkal, this decision will also affect the development of the situation in the Middle East, where Iran and possibly Russia are financing Houthi attacks and providing resources to their proxies.

"Tomorrow we will find out not only what decision the Court made regarding Russia's violations, but also understand what path the international regulation of the fight against terrorist financing and racial discrimination will take," the diplomat summarized.

As a reminder, preliminary hearings on Ukraine's genocide claim against Russia began in The Hague in September. It was filed three days after the invasion - on February 27, 2022.

As reported by OBOZ.UA:

• On March 9, 2020, a court hearing began in the Netherlands in the case of the Boeing 777 plane crash, which was shot down over Donbas on July 17, 2014. The crash killed 298 people on board.
• At the same time, not a single suspect appeared at the trial. These are Russians Sergei Dubinsky, Igor Girkin and Oleg Pulatov, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
• The prosecution in the case of the downing of Malaysian Boeing MH17 said it had evidence that the liner was shot down by a Russian Buk missile.

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