Russia has requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to dismiss the lawsuit, citing issues with the court's jurisdiction, according to reports by the Associated Press (AP) and others on the 18th (local time).
Russia argued, "Ukraine did not file the lawsuit on the grounds that Russia committed genocide or failed to prevent and punish genocide; on the contrary, it claims that genocide did not occur."
It added, "That alone is sufficient to dismiss the lawsuit," and argued, "According to the court's legal principles, if genocide did not occur, there can be no violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."
On February 26 last year, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia at the ICJ just three days after Russia's invasion. At that time, Ukraine claimed that Russia justified its invasion by falsely alleging that genocide was being committed in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and that Russia violated the 1948 United Nations General Assembly-adopted Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In response, the ICJ issued a provisional ruling in March last year ordering Russia to immediately cease military operations, but Russia ignored this ruling.
From this day until the 27th, before making a substantive judgment, the ICJ will hear both sides' opinions on whether it has jurisdiction over this lawsuit. It is expected to take weeks or months to make this determination. Even if jurisdiction is established, the AP reported that the final ruling could take years.
The ICJ was established after World War II to handle disputes between United Nations (UN) member states. It makes judgments based on treaties and conventions. Its rulings are binding but cannot be appealed, and it has no enforcement authority.
However, experts anticipate that the final ruling could play an important role in compensation claims related to the Ukraine war.
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