THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS --
Ukraine pleaded with the United Nations' prime courtroom Monday to order Russia to halt its devastating invasion, saying Moscow is already committing widespread battle crimes and "resorting to techniques harking back to medieval siege warfare" in its 12-day-old army onslaught.
Russia snubbed the Worldwide Court docket of Justice hearings and its seats within the Nice Corridor of Justice remained empty.
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On a garden outdoors the courtroom's headquarters, the Peace Palace in The Hague, a protester positioned colored candles spelling out the phrases: "Putin Come out." A small group of protesters holding Ukrainian flags chanted antiwar slogans outdoors the constructing's gates.
Ukrainian consultant Anton Korynevych advised judges on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice: "Russia have to be stopped and the courtroom has a task to play in stopping it."
Ukraine has requested the courtroom to order Russia to "instantly droop the army operations" launched Feb. 24 "which have as their said objective and goal the prevention and punishment of a claimed genocide" within the separatist japanese areas of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Attorneys for Kyiv dismissed the Russian declare.
"Ukraine involves this courtroom due to a grotesque lie and to hunt safety from the devastating penalties of that lie," David Zionts advised the courtroom. "The lie is the Russian Federation's declare of genocide in Ukraine. The implications are unprovoked aggression, cities beneath siege, civilians beneath hearth, humanitarian disaster and refugees fleeing for his or her lives."
A call on Ukraine's request is anticipated inside days. The courtroom's president, American choose Joan E. Donoghue, stated the judges would problem a choice "as quickly as doable."
If the courtroom had been to order a halt to preventing as Ukraine requested, "I believe the prospect of that occuring is zero," stated Terry Gill, a professor of army legislation on the College of Amsterdam. He famous that if a nation doesn't abide by the courtroom's order, judges might search motion from the United Nations Safety Council, the place Russia holds a veto.
Donoghue stated Russia's ambassador to the Netherlands, Alexander Shulgin, knowledgeable judges that "his authorities didn't intend to take part within the oral proceedings."
Due to Russia's refusal to take part within the hearings, Moscow's flip to current authorized arguments on Tuesday was cancelled.
Korynevych condemned Moscow's snub.
"The truth that Russian seats are empty speaks loudly," he stated. "They don't seem to be right here on this courtroom of legislation. They're on a battlefield waging aggressive battle in opposition to my nation."
The request for so-called provisional measures is linked to a case Ukraine has filed primarily based on the Genocide Conference. Each nations have ratified the 1948 treaty, which has a clause permitting nations to take disputes primarily based on its provisions to the Hague-based courtroom.
"Ukraine emphatically denies that any such genocide has occurred, and that the Russian Federation has any lawful foundation to take motion in and in opposition to Ukraine for the aim of stopping and punishing genocide," the nation stated in its declare to the courtroom.
Even earlier than the listening to, Donoghue despatched a message to Russia's international minister on March 1 urgent house the need to behave " in such a means as will allow any order the Court docket could make on the request for provisional measures to have its acceptable results."
Jonathan Gimblett, a member of Ukraine's authorized workforce, highlighted the urgency of Ukraine's case, saying Moscow's "army aggression might have resulted in a brand new nuclear disaster affecting not solely Ukraine or Russia, however doubtlessly an enormous surrounding space."
He added that Russia, "right now is resorting to techniques harking back to medieval siege warfare, encircling cities, slicing off escape routes and pounding the civilian inhabitants with heavy ordnance."
The success of Ukraine's request will rely upon whether or not the courtroom accepts it has "prima facie jurisdiction" within the case, which isn't a assure that the courtroom in the end would proceed with the swimsuit. Circumstances on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice sometimes take years to finish.
Whatever the consequence of the hearings, they offer Ukraine one other platform to air grievances about Moscow's invasion.
"It is a part of, I believe, an total diplomatic technique to attempt to put most stress on Russia," stated Gill.
Ukrainian consultant Oksana Zolotaryova emotionally underscored the excessive stakes because the listening to closed.
"As I'm talking, the Russian Federation continues its relentless assaults on our cities, on our cities, on our villages, on our folks," she advised judges.
She added: "We do not know but the true variety of Ukrainians that Russia has murdered up to now eleven days. We are able to solely guess what number of extra will probably be murdered within the subsequent eleven days if this mindless aggression doesn't cease."
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