PUBLIC HEARINGS ON PROVISIONAL MEASURES IN LEGALITY OF FORCE CASES OF YUGOSLAVIA VERSUS TEN STATES CONCLUDE AT ICJ
Press Release
ICJ/572
PUBLIC HEARINGS ON PROVISIONAL MEASURES IN LEGALITY OF FORCE CASES OF YUGOSLAVIA VERSUS TEN STATES CONCLUDE AT ICJ
19990512 Judges to Begin DeliberationsTHE HAGUE, 12 May (ICJ) -- The public hearings concerning the requests for the indication of provisional measures submitted by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the cases of Yugoslavia versus the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Portugal and Spain at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) were concluded today, enabling the Judges to start their deliberations.
In its requests, Yugoslavia asked the Court to order the States involved to "cease immediately [their] acts of use of force" and to "refrain from any act of threat or use of force" against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
At the opening of the hearings, on Monday, 10 May, five judges ad hoc took the oath (Article 31 of the Court's Statute provides that Parties which do not have any judge of their nationality on the Bench may appoint a judge ad hoc).
The Court then heard the Parties. Yugoslavia, as the applicant State, spoke first for two hours in a common statement for all 10 cases. It was followed by the respondent States in the English alphabetical order. Each State had one hour to submit its arguments. The first round of oral arguments was concluded on Tuesday, 11 May.
A second round of oral arguments was held today, Yugoslavia having one hour at its disposal and the respondent States 15 minutes each.
The Court's decision on the Yugoslav requests for provisional measures in the 10 cases will be delivered in the coming weeks. It will be read at a public sitting on a date which will be announced in a forthcoming press release.
Yugoslavia filed its requests for the indication of provisional measures on 29 April, when it instituted proceedings before the Court against the 10 above-mentioned States, accusing them of bombing Yugoslav territory in
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violation of their obligation not to use force against another State (for further details, see Press Release ICJ/569 of 29 April).
The verbatim records of the hearings are available on the Court's website (http://www.icj-cij.org).
Information Office: Arthur Witteveen, Secretary of the Court (+ 31 70 302 2336); Laurence Blairon, Information Officer (+ 31 70 302 2337), e-mail address: information@icj-cij.org.
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