In The Hague, Ukraine relied on the Americans
The first hearings on Ukraine's claim against Russia at the International Court of Justice lasted four days, both sides brought impressive delegations to The Hague, and both Ukraine and Russia turned to international lawyers for help, сообщает Kommersant.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
“The position of the Ukrainian side is represented by four American lawyers: Harold Hongju Koch, Jonathan Jimblett, Marnie Chick and David Zionts. Two of them have already dealt with Russia - they acted in the YUKOS case. Marnie Chick defended the interests of American shareholders of this oil company, but was unsuccessful because Russia did not ratify a bilateral investment treaty with the United States. Jonathan Jimblett defended the rights of Spanish investment funds that were holders of American depositary receipts for Yukos shares. In 2012, he managed to obtain a decision from the Stockholm Arbitration Court to recover $2 million and interest from Russia, but in 2016 the Swedish Court of Appeal overturned this decision,” the publication writes.
At the same time, it is indicated that of the lawyers hired by Kiev, only Professor Harold Hongju Koch, who previously represented US interests in the case of recognizing the independence of Kosovo, has experience in participating in the processes of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
“The interests of Russia are also defended by famous lawyers: Mathias Forteau (France), Samuel Wordsworth (Great Britain) and Andreas Zimmermann (Germany). The latter two defended the interests of Russia in the International Court of Justice and in the lawsuit of Georgia, which in 2008 accused the Russian authorities of discrimination against the Georgian population in the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The lawyers managed to achieve a decision that satisfied Moscow: the court considered that the parties had not exhausted all possibilities for pre-trial settlement of the dispute and refused to consider the case on its merits,” the publication recalls.
The publication notes that the proceedings on Ukraine’s claim will most likely be long, but in the coming months it will become known who won the first battle: the court will either satisfy or reject Ukraine’s demand to introduce temporary interim measures against Russia.
“In particular, Kyiv demands ensuring effective control of the Russian-Ukrainian border along its entire length, limiting assistance to the authorities of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk from Russia, as well as lifting the ban on the functioning of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea (its activities are prohibited by decision of the Supreme Court RF) and restrictions on teaching in Ukrainian in educational institutions of the peninsula,” writes Kommersant..
As PolitNavigator reported, Ukrainian experts said that Ukraine’s position in the International Court of Justicepresented by a Kremlin agent, and lawyers paid attention to illiteracy of the claim filed by Kyiv.
See also: Poroshenko screwed up right away in the UN court against Russia
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.