THE HAGUE — A lawyer for Russia on Wednesday dismissed Ukraine’s account of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in World Court hearings earlier this week as “fiction.”
Ukraine accuses Russia earlier than the UN’s high court docket of violating a UN anti-terrorism treaty by equipping and funding pro-Russian forces, together with militias who shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, killing all 298 passengers and crew in July 2014.
Last November, a Dutch court docket discovered that Russia had “overall control” over the separatist forces and had equipped the BUK missile system which was utilized by militias to shoot down the aircraft.
Ukraine repeated the Dutch court docket findings in its case earlier than the International Court of Justice (ICJ), however Russia’s lawyer Michael Swainston dismissed it as “fiction.”
“This did not happen, no BUK Telar came from Russia,” he informed the court docket on the ultimate day of hearings.
In its case on the ICJ, also referred to as the World Court, Kyiv additionally claims Russia breached a UN anti-discrimination treaty by attempting to erase the tradition of ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
In its closing submissions on Monday, Ukraine requested the ICJ to search out Moscow responsible of breaching its treaty obligations and order it to pay reparations.
Russia denies systematic human rights abuses in Ukrainian territory that it occupies. It additionally says it has met its obligations below the UN treaty in opposition to financing terrorism.
It has requested the court docket to throw out Ukraine’s declare which stems from 2017 and was filed effectively earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The ICJ is predicted to rule on the case earlier than the tip of this yr. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
