Many people remember The Hague, but not everyone is aware of the legal procedures that precede any international criminal proceedings. Today, there are two processes with a “living” status – the Ukrainian application to the International Court of Justice and the Lithuanian application to the International Criminal Court (Russia is not part of it).
The text of the Ukrainian statement is available here. The statement is based on the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Ukrainian side has chosen an interesting strategy – it is trying to justify that Russian accusations of genocide are not justified, which means there was no reason for hostilities. Ukraine demands that the Russian Federation provide assurances and guarantees of non-repetition of any unlawful measures against and against Ukraine, including the use of force, based on its false claims of genocide, and also oblige Russia to fully compensate for all damage from military actions.
Let us add that in 2017, Ukraine already filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice demanding that Russia’s actions in Donbass be recognized as a violation of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. A decision on this case has not yet been made.
Lithuania, in turn, appealed to the International Criminal Court in The Hague with a request to begin an investigation into “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia and Belarus in Ukraine.” However, it is important to note that the procedure for filing an application with the ICC is quite complex – first the Prosecutor of the Court must verify the existence of grounds for filing a claim. Given the complexity of the situation, review can occur quite quickly. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan previously expressed concern about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and declared that the court could take up this case.
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