Top UN Court Allows a Record 32 Countries to Intervene in Ukraine's Genocide Case Against Russia

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) The International Court of Justice has accepted requests from 32 countries to back Ukraine in a genocide case against Russia, the United Nations' highest court said Friday.

It's the largest number of countries to join another nation's complaint at the world court based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Ukraine's government filed the legally creative case days after Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The Kremlin snubbed hearings held the next month, while protesters holding Ukrainian flags chanted antiwar slogans outside the court buildings gates.

Latvia was the first country to intervene in the complaint, which alleges Russia violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by falsely accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in its eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and using that as a pretext for the invasion.

A record 33 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and every European Union member nation except Hungary requested to participate on Ukraine's side in the case. However, the U.N. court's judges rejected the U.S. request on a technicality.