On Wednesday, the International Court of Justice will issue a ruling on whether Russia violated an anti-terrorism treaty by providing support to pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, including those responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
Ukraine has accused Russia of also violating a human rights treaty by discriminating against ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Ukraine has asked the court to find Russia guilty of breaching obligations under two U.N. treaties, both of which Russia and Ukraine have signed, and to order Russia to pay reparations.
In a court hearing last June, Russia dismissed Ukraine’s allegations as fiction and “blatant lies”.
Russian lawyers denied the accusation of systematic human rights abuses in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia and rejected the accusation of violating the U.N. treaty against the financing of terrorism.
Ukraine took Russia to the International Court of Justice in 2017, prior to Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Throughout the almost seven-year case, Russia has been accused of equipping and funding pro-Russian forces, including rebels who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014, resulting in the death of all 298 passengers and crew.
In November 2022, a Dutch court sentenced two Russians and a Ukrainian in absentia to life imprisonment for their role in the MH17 disaster.
Ukraine claims that in Crimea, Russia was attempting to erase the culture of ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians.
The rulings of the International Court of Justice are final and cannot be appealed, but the court has no means to enforce its decisions.
However, if the court ruling finds Russia responsible for funding the pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine, it could strengthen separate cases against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights and the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Additionally, on Friday the International Court of Justice will rule in another case in which Ukraine has accused Moscow of falsely applying the 1948 Genocide Convention to justify its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
