With the Congressional hearings on Russia dominating the news, this post provides an update on proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the matter of Ukraine versus the Russian Federation. It also responds to a reader’s question about whether there are any options for prosecuting acts of terrorism in Ukraine, including the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17, in U.S. courts.
Events at the ICJ
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has concluded the public hearings (transcripts are here, my quick summary is here) in the case Ukraine has brought against Russia, formally styled:
Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation).
The Court has now begun its deliberations on Ukraine’s requests for provisional measures, which include requests that the Court order Russia to:
- exercise appropriate control over its border to prevent further acts of terrorism financing, including the supply of weapons from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Ukraine;
- halt and prevent all transfers from the territory of the Russian Federation of money, weapons, vehicles, equipment, training, or personnel to groups that have engaged in acts of terrorism against civilians in Ukraine;
- refrain from any act of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons, or institutions in the territory under its effective control, including the Crimean peninsula;
- cease and desist from acts of political and cultural suppression against the Crimean Tatar and ethnic Ukrainian people;
- halt the disappearance of Crimean Tatar individuals and to promptly investigate those disappearances that have already occurred.
Read the full post at Just Security.
- Publication Type:Other Writing
- Publication Date:03/21/2017