During the public hearings at the International Court of Justice, the representatives of the Russian Federation tried to justify the invasion of Crimea and divert the attention of judges from accusations put forward by Ukraine.

"First, they [representatives of the Russian Federation] are looking for the arguments to justify their invasion of Crimea. Second, they are looking for the arguments in order to divert the attention of the court from the accusations put forward by the Ukrainian side," Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov said after public hearings in Ukraine v. Russia case on June 3, an Ukrinform correspondent reports from The Hague.

He recalled that the judgment of the International Court of Justice, which was adopted two years ago and required that Russia should restore the activity of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and ensure accessibility of education in the Ukrainian language in Crimea, had not been enforced.

“Russia has not done anything, and moreover, it tried to answer that the Crimean Tatars feel fine in Crimea. And today, two years after the interim decision, we hear that Russia is trying to prove that this issue is out of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. The insolence is infinite," Chubarov said.

As reported, on January 16, 2017, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia with the International Court of Justice. The ICJ considers the lawsuit over the violation of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The charges brought against Russia include: the provision of weapons and other forms of assistance to illegal armed groups; shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17); shelling residential areas of Mariupol and Kramatorsk in Donetsk region; destruction of a civilian passenger bus near Volnovakha in Donetsk region; explosion during a peaceful assembly in Kharkov which caused human fatalities; discrimination against the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities; the prohibition of activity of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, waves of disappearances, murders, unauthorized searches, detentions; restrictions on teaching in the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages.

The first hearing was held on March 6, 2017. On April 19, 2017, the order on provisional measures was delivered. The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Russia should resume the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, ensure accessibility of education in Crimea in the Ukrainian language.

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