Belgrade reacts to some arguments sent to ICJ

BELGRADE

Serbia’s legal team has sent its comments on the statements filed by other countries in the Kosovo case considered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).Last fall, the UN General Assembly ordered the world organization’s top tribunal to provide an advisory opinion on whether the ethnic Albanians’ unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo in February 2008 was in line with international law.

How Serbia’s chief legal representative in the case, Saša Obradović, says that his team has submitted its reactions to some arguments that arrived in favor of the proclamation.

Serbia is drawing attention to the fact that even those countries that support the declaration do not have a single legal answer to the question: why would a secession of Kosovo and Metohija be considered in line with international law, he said.

The deadline for this phase of the proceedings is July 17, after which The Hague-based court will schedule a verbal debate.

“With this, I am convinced, we have improved our present stance considerably, by repelling all those arguments that went in favor of the legality of Kosovo’s independence, that is, of it being in harmony with international law,” Obradović told B92 about his team’s latest move.

“We paid particular attention to the thesis that Kosovo is a unique and sui generis case, and that precisely for that reason, international law should not apply in this case,” he explained.

Earlier this week, Kosovo Albanian authorities in Priština also announced they would send a new set of arguments to the court, hoping to improve their case in favor of the unilateral declaration.