Latvia joins Ukraine v. russia genocide lawsuit at UN ICJ
Latvia has filed a declaration of intervention to join the case regarding Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to the Secretariat of the International Court of Justice of the United Nations
The European Court of Human Rights judge for Ukraine, Hanna Yudkivska, announced it on Facebook.
As the judge explained, Article 63 of the Statute of the Court says, when it comes to interpreting a convention with other states as the participants, each of these states has the right to enter the process besides those participating in the case.
In this case, the interpretation of the Court's decision will be equally binding on them.
The Government of Latvia stated that "[a]s a Party to the Genocide Convention, Latvia has a direct interest in the construction that might be placed upon that treaty in the Court's decision in the [p]roceedings."
The press release also stated that Latvia "wishes to intervene in order to make submissions on [the] construction of the Genocide Convention on issues relating to merits as well as jurisdiction."
The governments of Ukraine and russia have been asked to provide written comments on Latvia's statement.
To recap, on March 16, the International Court of Justice of the United Nations in The Hague obliged russia to stop military operations in Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022.
You can follow the process online.
russia declared these actions as "prevention and punishment" of the alleged genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine.
The Kremlin said they would ignore the decision.
Reference
On the third day of the invasion, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against russia to the UN International Court of Justice with a demand to hold the aggressor accountable for distorting the concept of genocide.
After all, to justify its attack, russia is trying to change reality. So, the court has to decide whether genocide was committed in Ukraine.
The fact is that russia, as usual, is trying to twist everything, saying that Ukraine is allegedly guilty of genocide in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which is why russia was forced to use military force.
Read Rubryka's daily timeline of war: current news on Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression.
