League of TWI: International Court of Justice [Closed, TWI]

[The League of TWI]

The League of The Western Isles
The International Court of Justice

Learn More | Resolutions | Assembly Thread | Out of Session Thread | The Second Charter


The International Court of Justice is the Judicial arm of the League and acts as the Isles' peak legal institution, created in Resolution 8 with its powers and abilities outlined in the Second Charter. For standard cases, three judges shall be selected to arbitrate on the cases brought before them. Any breach of the charter may be brought here, in addition to any individuals who may require prosecution before the League. At the League's prior approval, it may also bring other matters before the ICJ.

Docket
In Progress:

In Queue:

Previous Decisions

• Decision on whether the Lortika Assimilation Act is incongruent to the Charter

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[Polar Svalbard]

Simund Nordmark arrived at the ICJ building. He wore a Black suit coat, with black pant, a dark gray dress shirt, and a crimson red tie. His spiked blonde hair, riffled a bit in the wind, his blue eyes wandered around the beautiful building. He was a bit scrawny, never having truly worked out towards gaining muscle, his entire career spent in the legal field. He pushed up his glasses and entered the building.

He was truly excited to be here, he was personally told by the Consul herself, Alyssa Horwen, and he came as fast as he could. He shook hands with the SG's aide and waited for the others to arrive.

[Dashgrinaar]

Dashiell Hale was the leading legal specialist in Grace Empyr's select council that dealt with large international affairs. So, Grace felt comfortable with sending the 36 year old to the International District to attend a session of the International Court of Justice. He had, in fact, graduated as the Valedictorian of his class at the University of the Government.

He had flown into the I.D. as quickly as he could, and had landed a few hours before. Now, he stood in front of the Court's building, dressed in a grey coat that overlayed a lighter grey dress shirt, accented by a navy tie. Dashiell had been an athlete, specifically a runner, throughout his life, so he maintained a lean body. His brown hair waved a bit in the wind as his green-blue eyes drifted over the façade of the building.

He spotted the Secretary-General's aide, and hurried over. He shock hands with the aid, and introduced himself to the Svalbardian.

"Hello, I'm Dashiell Hale, from Dália. I presume you are from Polar Svalbard? It's a pleasure to meet you."

[Keomora]

Ashley Shuyen was never one to be giant in the legal world. She preferred the quiet, to interpret and to carefully choose a position. That's why the President chose her to be a judge and why Parliament confirmed her... but she still felt out of her league. However she quietly accepted her fate and took the first plane to the International District. Without taking a rest she went to the Court's Building. She was wearing a hoodie, covering her raven black hair and obscuring her similarly shaded eyes, whilw enjoying a simple lair of jeans, a habit due to the lax dress code of her office. When she walked inside she saw two men in suits talking to each other.
"Excuse me, my name is Ashley Shuyen. Are you the delegates from Dashgrinaar and Polar Svalabard?"

[Polar Svalbard]

Simund shook hands with the representative from Dashgrinaar,"Yes, pleasure to meet you too. I'm Simund Normark, you my good sir?" He turned and saw the representative from Keomora, he was taken aback by casual dress she wore, a hoodie and jeans did not seem quite appropriate to him. He turned and offered her his hand to shake, "Simund Normark, representative from Polar Svalbard, and you are?"

[Keomora]

"Ashley Shuyen" she repeated, taking off her hood to reveal her short hair and pale skin. Almost daintily she took his offer and shook his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

[Dashgrinaar]

"Dashiell Hale. A pleasure to meet you both." He quickly scanned the Keomoran, taking note of her dress. He didn't really care if it was casual, though.

[The League of TWI]

"The Secretary General's Aide de camp looked at them and smiled, "Well I am glad you were all punctual and have all introduced yourselves, I'm Raamiz Jabbar. While the Secretary General could not be here at the moment due to the League being rather heated at the moment, I am here to get all three of you comfortable and ready to start discussions, I'll be presiding over it to make sure it all goes smoothly. Follow me."

The three delegates followed Jabbar, he was a man in his late forties of muslim descent. His home is Polar Svalbard and was a part of the Diplomatic staff before being transferred to the League. He stood at 5 foot 10, with smoothly combed hair, soft brown eyes, and a thin body. As they walked he showed them the numerous paintings around the building, them coming from all over the Isles, before they finally reached the room where the proceedings would be held.

"Before we go in I'd like to go over a few things with the three of you, this will be filmed and presented on the League's open channel, so please maintain respect much higher than that in the assembly chamber," Raamiz smiled, "Along with that there will be people present, usually just diplomatic people from other nations. I'll be presiding to keep this punctual and on point, remember the topic of this session is to decide what war in the charter, article 11 means, and if Bhikkustan and Vioraux have ran against the charter." He flourished his arms towards the large doors, "Enter and be seated, I will be with you momentarily."

[Dashgrinaar]

"Thank you, Mr. Jabbar, a pleasure, I'm sure." Dashiell took his seat in the chamber room, the three delegates being seated at a bench raised above the rest of the floor. He removed some paper and a pencil from his bag and set them on the table. He then removed his laptop and left it closed on the table as well.

[Polar Svalbard]

Simund nodded to Raamiz, "Thank you Mr. Jabbar." He followed the Dashgrinaarian in and took his seat on the raised dais, He took out his laptop, a notebook and writing utensils. He put a bottle of water next to him on the floor and looked at Dashiell, "Would you like a Bottle of water?"

[Dashgrinaar]

"That would be great! Thanks." Dashiell opened up his laptop to scan a few documents pertaining to the case. He sent Grace an email confirming he was there, then closed the computer.

[Keomora]

Ashley walkes inside and took her seat, taking out her laptop and some briefs.

[Polar Svalbard]

Simund tossed him a bottle of water and then asked the Keomoran if she would like a bottle of water.

[Keomora]

"I'm good. But thank you for the offer." She put on her glasses as she started reading fine prints of a document.

[The League of TWI]

Raamiz Jabbar walked in to the room after all were settled in. He walked to his seat, slightly higher and to the right of the three judges, and set down his briefcase. Taking the gavel in hand he banged it thrice.

"Thank you all for being in attendance, we shall now start this session of the International Court of Justice. The topic of this session is to clarify article 11 of the League's charter, specifically the word war and its relevance to the rest of article. Along with that, there shall be a discussion of whether or not Bhikkustan and Vioraux are welcome to stay as delegates or should be revoked their status and turned into observer status due to possible, which will be discussed, violation of the charter of the League of the Western Isles. If each Justice could present their opening positions on all of this to begin discussion and show where all three lie, that would be appreciated and keeping with procedure."

[Dashgrinaar]

"Thank you, Mr. Jabbar. To begin, I will delineate what we should consider in order to pass judgment on Vioraux and Bhikkustan. In order for us three Justices to decide the fate of this case, we must resolve the issue the Assembly has come upon with Article Eleven of the charter, specifically what is considered war by our standards. Then, we must judge based upon the evidence we are given. This way, we will set precedent for any other case of this matter and provide an active definition for the Article under consideration.

"In my opinion the basic spirit of the Article is telling us that one nation must commit to active warfare against the other, such as drawing strikes against the other. Cambridge Dictionaries define war as an "armed fighting between two or more countries or groups". Therefore, it is my recommendation for the Court to adopt into definition, that Article Eleven may be enacted for the removal or demotion of a nation only if they have committed an attack, physical or digital, on another nation while under a declared state of war, for attacking while not under a state of war is another issue altogether.

"Using my given definitions, I will therefore judge that Article Eleven should be only enacted for the nation that has committed an active attack against another nation. For purposes of clarity, we shall consider Domanania as a proxy target of Vioraux becauseas of the December 2015 treaty agreed upon within the League, Domanania essentially is the protecting military force of Vioraux. However, we should not ignore the fact that even though Domanania is the protecting force of Vioraux, which made it a viable target, it was not directly involved in the conflict. Thus, Bhikkustan actually attacked a nation that was not involved in the conflict between their nation and Vioraux.

"Currently, I will not go insofar as to discuss what possible reprecussions the Court should deal out to the Bhikkustani as I have not yet addressed all points of the situation. It must be taken into note that the Bhikkustani government sanctioned the digital assault upon Union Bank and took credit for the millions of files stolen from people, regarding some of their most confidential information. In fact, this occurred before actual warfare occurred, which is a very malicious thing to do. The Court should weigh this heavily when discussing Bhikkustani reparations.

"Now, I will turn my focus over to the Vienne side of the argument. Although it was reported on Blue Bird that Bleu did have confidential files related to the Bhikkustani government, it was not shown that the Vienne government had any connection to that. As we are discussing governmental actions currently, I would advise that we disregard that. The main issue that the Assembly is raising with the Vienne government is the Instruction and the internment of any Vienne-Bhikkustani people to the 3rd generation. As this is classified as an issue based on human rights, the Court may also rule on this. However, I would refrain on weighing this evidence heavily because the League has no binding resolutions or Articles on the subject

"In conclusion, I believe that the actions of the Bhikkustani government have warranted an activation of Article Eleven protocols and that it is the duty of the court to weigh evidence against and for the nation to decide the punishment. I would like to remind the court that this is a monumental and precedent-setting case, and that we must consider that what we do today will affect the League tomorrow, and indefinitely into the future. I hereby rest my case and defer to my fellow Justices for their remarks."

[Great-Imperialonia]

The halls were a bit stuffy, and civil servants were busy cleaning them, the lights were switched on again when Lady Fairglass, the Countess of Seacliff and Ambassador to the League walked in, followed by her deputy Mr. Storm and George Mansion, the Imperialonian State-Secretary of Justice and Security. It had been a long time since the ICJ was to be actively used again for the trial of so many people.

State-Secretary Mansion sighted.

"It's a shame so many Imperialonians will be the first again to be tried at this large scale..."

Fairglass nodded, while searching the seats that would be reserved for them during the trials. The criminals who were prosecuted by Great-Imperialonia were the Imperial Commander of the Navy, Lord Silsbury, the Deputy Chief of the Imperial Airforce, Mr. Brown and the Count of Unification of the Imperial Army, Count Fabian Blackheart.

"Well gentlemen -Fairglass said while taking a seat- it is time we finish this chapter of our history for once and for all. It has taken too much of our time already, especially since we are in the middle of such important business with New Aapelistan."

The two men agreed and they sat down just next to Fairglass.

"Now let's wait shall we..." Storm whispered.

[Athara Magarat]

APPLICATION ON

ENDING ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION IN LORTIKA

SUBMITTED BY ATHARA MAGARAT

1. I have the honor to file this Application on the behalf of the Athara Magarati Democratic Hangate against the monarchy of the Belle Ilse en Terre, and to submit an urgent Request that the Court indicate provisional measures. This case has been filed to protect the lives and basic human rights of the people of Lortika, who are endangered by these acts of ethnic discrimination committed by the Ilsan monarchy. The Court should indicate provisional measures to prevent further aggravation or extension of the disputes between the parties under these treaties.

2. In Lortika, the Ilsan forces have violated international law by acts of aggression against the peaceful Lortik civilians. This aggression includes bombardment of residential areas, attacks on civilian transports and assassination of key Lortik leaders who have nothing to do with the armed insurgency.

3. In Lortika, the Ilsan monarchy is pursuing its goal of imposing ethnic dominance with a campaign of cultural erasure through discrimination. As an initial step, in 6th April, 2018; the Ilsan monarchy assembled Lortik nobles at Fosseury Hall amid an intense climate of intimidation. As a punishment against the terror acts carried out by organizations such as SHOCK or the Legitimists, the Ilsan monarchy proceeded to mount a broad-based campaign of Lortik cultural erasure through the so-called Lortik Assimilation Act. Against the peaceful Lortik community who distance themselves from the terror groups, the Ilsan monarchy vented their misplaced anger by carrying out the grave crime of massacre of over 200 Lortik nobles at Fosseury Hall on April 6th. The Ilsan monarchy continues to suppress Lortik cultural institutions, has prevented important cultural gatherings, perpetrated a regime of disappearances and murders, conducted a campaign of arbitrary searches and detentions, silenced media voices, and suppressed educational rights. Furthermore, on 29 January; the Ilsan monarchy started deporting Ilsans of Magarati descent (for clarification: this term includes not only Khas-Kiratis but Domans, Nyssic, Linavians, Samuderan-Sanggarics, Kemoris, Taurots and other "ethnic groups and sub-groups" with ties to Kaski Island) on baseless accusations of conspiracies against the Ilsan monarch George II and claims of their ties to SHOCK or the Legitimist group without any proof.

4. This pattern of political and cultural suppression that started with the coronation of George II has undermined the leadership of the Lortik community and Ilsan Magarati communities; leaving these populations particularly vulnerable to additional acts of Ilsan discrimination and violence. With its representative organization now banned and its leaders either in exile or subject to psychiatric detention, arrest, searches, or other harassment at any time, the Lortik and Ilsan Magarati communities are under great pressure, suffering the ongoing effects of discrimination, and at risk of further actions leading toward the erasure of their distinct cultures. The deportations of Ilsan Magaratis and the number of Lortik asylum seekers amount to over 350,000 - most of them headed for the Athara Magarati Democratic Hangate. The government of Athara Magarat wishes to notify the Court through this application that the nation, already burdened with the reconstruction in the aftermath of a war and a domino effect of refugee immigration and emigration of Athara Magarati citizens, cannot handle another refugee crisis but assure the Court that the Athara Magarati state shall do its best to accommodate these peoples.

5. For the reasons explained above, the civilian populations of Lortika are extremely vulnerable and require the Court's immediate protection.

6. The Athara Magarati Democratic Hangate requests that the Court order the following provisional measures:

(a) The Ilsan monarchy shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve.

(b) The Ilsan monarchy shall refrain from any act of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons, or institutions in the territory under its effective control, including the restive Lortika region.

(c) The Ilsan monarchy shall cease and desist from acts of political and cultural suppression against the Lortik people, including the so-called Lortik Assimilation Act and refraining from enforcement of this decree and any similar measures, while this case is pending.

(d) The Ilsan monarchy shall take all necessary steps to halt the disappearance of Lortik individuals and to promptly investigate those disappearances that have already occurred.

(e) The Ilsan monarchy shall cease and desist from acts of political and cultural suppression against the Magarati ethnic groups in the Ilse, including suspending restrictions on ethnic-language education and respecting ethnic Magarati languages and educational rights, while this case is pending.

7. The Athara Magarati Democratic Hangate reserves the right to amend this Request and the measures sought.

8. The Athara Magarati Democratic Hangate respectfully asks that this Request be considered at the Court’s earliest possible opportunity, including the expeditious scheduling of a hearing.

Respectfully submitted

Ms. Sandhya Fau-doh-putri Kalo Purja Pun Kham Magar Ruwani Kannun
Secretary of Justice
Agent of Athara Magarat Democratic Hangate
June 2018

[Belle Ilse en Terre]

APPLICATION

TO DISMISS THE ACCUSATIONS

OF THE MAGARATI GOVERNMENT

1. Recognising the baseless and defamatory accusations of Athara Magarat it is necessary dispel misconceptions on Ilsan government actions
2. Any actions against Lortiks were consensual, as the Constitution was passed in Lortika with the approval of Lortik representatives. Furthermore, the Lortik Assimilation Act was passed with ample representation afforded to Lortik delegates. The decision was very democratic.
3. The Ilsan government and people Object to official use of the word ‘Legitimist’ in the Magarati libel, as the only Legitimate Monarch is King George II.
4. Ample evidence exists of Magarati and Lortik complicity in SHOCK, as evidenced by multiple intelligence estimates and carefully preserved training camps in Lortika.
5. The Ilsan government will not recognise infringement on its or its people’s sovereignty.
6. Constitutional processes of Democracy will be allowed to correct errors perceived by the esteemed but malignant Magarati Government.
7. The Ilse reserves the right to amend this rebuttal as fit.
8. The Constitutional Monarchy of Belle Ilse en Terre respectfully asks that this Request not be considered; if it must, at the Court’s latest possible opportunity, including the delaying of the scheduling of a hearing.
Respectfully Submitted

(Image)
Appointee of His Ilsan Majesty King George II, Director of Foreign Affairs George Dandin
June 2018

[Ainslie]

JC Gabriel Carane walked into the chamber with a set of documents. He thought he would take the time to refresh his mind of them after the trip from Arnton to here. The Judicial Council judge rested his head on his open hand, examining the documents below him. He hoped that this organisation would be far more functional than the organisation which implemented it. He had heard too many bad things about the League and was a little sceptical about it all. Despite this, he was quite pleased to be participating in one of the first cases of the court. He knew that what happened in this case could mould into standard procedure for all cases.

He pulled out a notepad and begun to write down certain sections of the two parties' submissions that he wanted to hone in on as he waited for the other judges to arrive alongside the various other legal professionals.

"Well this is just great isn't it... great start... these guys might just turn up and reject our jurisdiction", he muttered under his breath.

Gabriel turned his attention clerk who had just arrived.

"Oi, can you come here for a minute?"

"Yes, Justice", he replied.

"Now, I need you to show the Secretariat the Ilsean application, if he has not seen it already. We could have a jurisdiction issue..."

The clerk rushed off silently, with the public who were beginning to walk in watching him as he sped off.

[Dormill and Stiura]

Wolfe Leclair followed behind JC Carane. Alike to his Ahnslen counterpart, Leclair served in the highest echelons of the Dormill-Stiuraian judiciary as a member of the Court of Cassation. He began by reading the two applications. Writing in his own copy of them as he goes along.

Request that the Court indicate provisional measures, "well that might be a problem already." thinking to himself while continuing down. Lortik Assimilation Act, he writes in the margins nearby the mention of this act "This act should be reviewed and compared against relevant documents." massacre of over 200 Lortik nobles at Fosseury Hall on April 6th, "this requires evidence. Audio/Video maybe?". He continues down the Magarati Application, reading the "provisional" measures recommended by the application. "No mention of an apology, no legal repercussions if of the provisions are not followed; this will be fun," he mutters under his breath while finishing his notes.

Moving on to the Islean document, he continues his note-taking, consensual, as the Constitution was passed in Lortika, "add Islean Constitution to the list of documents to review," he stops at the last sentence on the line, staring at the page almost dumbfounded at its wording, The decision was very democratic, he takes a moment to gather his composure before writing, "Question the officials in the Ilsan legislature who were involved in this, high-level, no need to single out the poor unfortunate souls who voted thinking this was a just decision." He writes in the margins of the following line "Must define 'Legitimist', its roots, and its constant usage in both applications.", He then circles the following line reading multiple intelligence estimates, writing, "Which agencies? When? Any other involvement with the Isle or its government?"

He turns to Carane after finishing his review. "So, where do you stand on this, Mr. Councilor?

[Ainslie]

Carane looked a little puzzled and a little disgusted by being referred to as "Mr Councillor". Despite this, he replied.

"I hope we're not getting charged by the hour cause this is gonna be over quick... jurisdiction, submissions, sovereignty, what appears to be unanswered and clear breaches of international law... It's gonna be an interesting, but quick case - an absolute mess if you ask me."

[Menna Shuli]

Ivi Kiavêvit Haatwala Ki took his place. Haatwala was an ivi, or official authority, on international law, trained at the University of Shuhakallu, and was Kihêspê Mênna, with more than a hundred undisputed cases in his history. The Mênnan legal system was different in many ways from how this case would be tried, but Haatwala's experience was undeniable.

He scanned his copies of the documents, scratching at his graying beard. He nodded, dotting out a few notes in old Mênnan point script, a method he had picked up in university as a form of shorthand. When he was prepared, he spoke.

"We are not to rush this," he said in clear English with an obvious Mênnan lilt. "Above all, we must treat this matter as fairly as we can. A presupposition of guilt is going to be unhelpful in that regard. I notice that we have no mention of the findings of the League investigatory team. Do we have copies of those findings to enter into record?"

[The League of TWI]

Once the judges from the three nations chose to preside over this case were settled in, the head investigator from the investigation team from Belle Isle En Terre, along with two other investigators walked in. Walking towards a table in front of the judges the investigators placed their briefcases on the desk that was arranged for them to present their evidence. The head investigator walked a bit towards the three judges and bowed slightly.

"Hello, I am Andalow Ventlov. I was the head investigator in Belle Ilse En Terre for the possible crimes against humanity that were inflicted on the Lortik population in the nation. In total my team and I spent about three weeks traveling through the nation. While there although we were viewed upon coldly we were allowed almost free reign throughout the nation, it was, as one of the investigators on my team put it, as if the nation was proud of what had occurred. Throughout the investigation we were able to gain a large amount of evidence which we have brought with us today, along with testimonies from people of Lortik descent."

Andalow nodded to one of the investigators who produced a photo and placed it on a projector. The image that went onto the screen behind Andalow showed a number of bodies that were slumped forward on the ground with gunshots to the back of the head. The bodies also had signs that they were being picked apart by scavengers. "This first image is one of a number of sites that we found where there were mass executions, the bodies here are of Lortik descent and by the time we arrived had been there for a number of weeks." The team went onto show five more instances of this, although there were more.

Moving on the screen showed a mass grave that had not been covered in dirt. The only covering was one of lye over the numerous bodies. Among the bodies one could clearly see that children were among them. Andalow nodded, "This was the first of three mass graves that we were able to find. This one was the easiest to find as it had not been covered in dirt. From what sources we could gather there are over two hundred dead bodies in this grave at the bare minimum, although there could very well be more. The other two that we were able to find," The pictures one after another were presented, "Were covered in dirt and we were only able to locate them due to talking to Lortiks who survived in the areas and people who lived in the cities and around them. Between the other two graves we estimate another thousand people buried, although as stated before, there likely is more than that."

The next picture to appear was a refugee camp that was outside of a city, more pictures showed general signs of malnourishment among the people, and there was a variety of pictures that showed injuries and possible physical abuse from the authorities that patrolled the camp. "Here we have one of the many camps that we visted. The people are kept under constant surveilance and there is a large amount of hostility between them and the police or military forces that watch them. The people in these camps are generally malnourished and suffer from abuse at the hands of the authorities who watch over them." Andalow moved towards the judges with paper in his hands. He handed each of them a stapled stack of papers that were divided by tabs. "I have given each of you a series of accounts that we took from various people in and around the camps. You may read them when you wish. We talked to a number of Lortiks who spoke of physical abuse, food being withheld from the camp, and we even had accounts of rape going on. We were able to talk to some military personnel who all were very hostile in their accounts of the day to day activities of the refugee camp towards the Lortiks who were there."

Continuing forward he gave them another stack of reports, "We were also able to gain evidence and reports that there was a large amounts of rape going on during the conflict which is similar to what occured during the Balkan wars of the nineties in which the various ethnicities tried to rape the women of other ethnicities in attempt to commit genocide. There are plenty of accounts of this and furthermore a large amount of Lortik women, mostly in their late teens and twenties who became pregnant at the time of the conflict. It is too early to test for DNA though so we will be requesting that we are able to go back to Belle Ilse En Terre when we are able to test the DNA of the babies to make the evidence of rape concrete."

Andalow looked at the judges, "I will warn you that the next set of pictures are graphic." With that pictures started to be shown that were of dismembered bodies that were killed through a variety of torture methods. "These are all Lortiks who were of prominent status before they were killed. Rather than be executed by being shot they were hung, disembowled, tortured, even drawn and quartered. These bodies seemed to be left out to rot as a warning and threat."

"The last thing to discus is that we found a number of Belle Ilse En Terre men and women on previously Lortik land that were now nobles. It seems as though the government tried to take away as much Lortik land as it could to give to new nobles."

With that the investigators gave each judge copies of all the pictures, firsthand accounts, copies of land titles, and letters that they had been able to gather throughout their time in Belle Ilse En Terre. Andalow bowed slightly again and stated that he hoped this would help them.

[Menna Shuli]

Haatwala carefully leafed through the photos. "I note that the Ilsan application notes that all action taken against the Lortik population was consensual," he stated slowly after a few moments. "Would that also pertain to the evidence presented here?"