Third day of Kosovo debate at ICJ

Azerbaijan and Belarus spoke before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) today against the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence. The unilateral proclamation represented a breach of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and a violation of Serbia's territorial integrity and sovereignty, which was against international law. Third day of Kosovo debate at ICJ The Hague-based UN court is currently conducting a public hearing in the case, forwarded to it last year by the UN General Assembly. It will afterwards rule on the legality of the proclamation, made in February 2008. Austria and Bahrain also made their arguments today, in favor of the declaration. Russian news agency Itar-Tass said the Austrian delegation representative Helmut Tichy stated that his country's view was that the independence declaration was "in accordance with international law". Tichy explained this by saying there were "no rules that prohibited a declaration of independence or secession in international law", adding that it had been adopted by "elected officials who expressed the will of the people in Kosovo, and that was not illegal in international law". Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria and Burundi are scheduled to present their views on Friday, while the hearing itself will last until December 11. The full transcript from today's proceedings is available here

Third day of Kosovo debate at ICJ

The Hague-based UN court is currently conducting a public hearing in the case, forwarded to it last year by the UN General Assembly. It will afterwards rule on the legality of the proclamation, made in February 2008.

Austria and Bahrain also made their arguments today, in favor of the declaration.

Russian news agency Itar-Tass said the Austrian delegation representative Helmut Tichy stated that his country's view was that the independence declaration was "in accordance with international law".

Tichy explained this by saying there were "no rules that prohibited a declaration of independence or secession in international law", adding that it had been adopted by "elected officials who expressed the will of the people in Kosovo, and that was not illegal in international law".

Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria and Burundi are scheduled to present their views on Friday, while the hearing itself will last until December 11.

The full transcript from today's proceedings is available here