The majority of the judges at the United Nations' International Court of Justice (ICJ) have authorized the inclusion of 32 countries in Ukraine's genocide lawsuit against Russia, the ICJ announced on June 9.
The list includes 26 countries of the European Union, excluding only Hungary, as well as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Liechtenstein, and the U.K.
According to ABC News, it's the largest number of countries to join another nation's lawsuit at the Hague court in history.
The vote on their inclusion was supported by 14 judges against one.
The court also unanimously refused to include the U.S. in the lawsuit at the "preliminary objections stage of the proceedings."
Ukraine filed the lawsuit against Russia at the Hague in February 2022 under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The parliaments of eight countries, including Ukraine, have already recognized the acts committed by Russian invading forces as genocide.
Another intergovernmental tribunal in the Hague, the International Criminal Court (ICC), has issued arrest warrants against the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.
Paul Grod
(Updated: )
