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The British representative believes that the UN International Court of Justice can consider Ukraineʼs lawsuit against the Russian Federation

Authors:
Liza Brovko, Oksana Kovalenko
Date:

The Attorney General of Great Britain, Victoria Prentis, hopes that the International Court of Justice of the United Nations will continue to consider Ukraineʼs lawsuit against Russia regarding the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

As the correspondent of "Babel" Oksana Kovalenko reports, she stated this at the court hearing, where representatives of 32 countries, which entered the case on the side of Ukraine, read their arguments in favor of the Ukrainian lawsuit.

“If the court moves forward, and we very much hope it does, to the next stage of this litigation, weʼre going to have to work through the arguments (on the merits of the case) one by one. I think some of those arguments will be novel," Prentis said.

She noted that the Genocide Convention is an important treaty that obliges States to prevent and punish genocide.

"Along with 31 other intervening states, the United Kingdom has demonstrated its commitment to the proper interpretation and application of the provisions of this Convention," added the prosecutor.

In her address to the justices, Prentis emphasized that the court has jurisdiction over the case. Part of her statement concerned whether Russia had the right to launch a full-scale invasion, citing the protection of the people of Donbas.

"It is impossible to imagine that a state that fulfills its obligations to prevent genocide in good faith can do so through aggression or other international crimes," the official stressed.