International Court Hearing On Kosovo Ends

International Court of Justice, ICJ, ended on Friday the nine-day long public hearing on whether the declaration of Kosovo independence went against international law.

In the last of the hearings, representatives from Vietnam and Venezuela argued that the declaration of independence is in violation with international law and UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Vietnam's representative Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh said that under Resolution 1244, which confirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SRJ, and Serbia, Kosovo can have broad autonomy, but not the status of an independent state.

Addressing the ICJ judges, Venezuela's representative Alejandro Fleming pointed out that the self-determination principle in international law applies only to colonies, while Kosovo has never been either a colony or an independent state, as he put it.

At the end of the session, all the participants of the hearing were asked to fill the questionnaire by 22 December related to the claims heard during the proceedings that international law does not prohibit secession, as well as those regarding the promises made by the participants in Kosovo's 2007 parliamentary elections that they would declare independence, and the provisions of the 1999 Rambouillet agreement, Fonet news agency reports.

After Kosovo's ethnic Albanians declared unilateral independence in February 2008, Serbia, who bitterly opposes the country’s independence, took the case to the ICJ. The Court's hearings lasted from 1 to 11 December, with judges expected to deliver an opinion in a few months.

During nine days of hearings, 29 delegations presented their opiniond on the  issue. The case brought Russians and Americans face-to-face in court for the first time in 50 years while presenting two opposing views.

Serbia's stance on the issue has been supported by delegations from: Russia, China, Spain, Romania, Cyprus, Argentina, Brazil, Vietnam, Bolivia, Venezuela, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

The countries supporting Kosovo's position were: United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The delegation of Burundi, which also took part in the process before ICJ, refrained from taking either side, stressing that Kosovo will continue to exist as an entity, regardless of the court's decision.