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Thursday, 2 May
politics

International Court of Justice announces historic ruling on Russia's crimes

On Wednesday, January 31, the International Court of Justice announced a ruling in the case of Ukraine's lawsuit over Russia's financing of terrorism and violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

About it informs Suspilne.

The court, in particular, should determine whether there was convincing evidence that the RF violated the International convention on the fight against the financing of terrorism.

On one of the charges, by thirteen votes to two, it was determined that the Russian Federation failed to fulfill its obligations to investigate terrorist financing, which the Ukrainian side has repeatedly stated.

"By this judgment, the Court recognizes that the Russian Federation has violated its obligations under Part One of Article 9 of the ICSFT and continues to be under an obligation to investigate, in accordance with that provision, sufficiently substantiated allegations of financing of acts of terrorism in eastern Ukraine," the judgment states.

At the same time, the Court found no evidence of Russia's responsibility on most points. Thus, in particular, the UN decided that the RF didn't have reasonable grounds to suspect that the funds it provided were being or could be used for the purpose of financing terrorism.

"In the absence of such a reasonable suspicion, the Russian Federation was also not obliged under Article 18 to restrict any financing of the DNR and LNR. The Court also considers that, in the circumstances of this case, the Russian Federation wasn't obliged to recognize the group as terrorist under its domestic law as a preventive measure," the International Court of Justice said.

By ten votes to five, the International Court of Justice rejected all other submissions filed by Ukraine under the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

Announcing the decision, the Head of the International Court of Justice Joan Donoghue emphasized that the situation in Ukraine "today is very different" from what it was when Ukraine filed its lawsuit in January 2017.

Regarding Russia's possible violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the court found that Russia had failed to protect the rights of ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea, where the number of students studying in Ukrainian had sharply declined.

By ten votes to five, the ICJ rejected all of Ukraine's other submissions on the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In addition, the judges refused to make a specific ruling on Russia's probable responsibility for the shooting down of the MH17 plane over Donetsk Region.

Also the court didn't satisfy Ukraine's claim to pay compensation from the Russian Federation.

Earlier "Apostrophe" reported that the International Court of Justice in The Hague will announce a decision on the lawsuit, which Ukraine filed in January 2017 against Russia.