NEW DELHI: The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's main judicial organ, will hold a public hearing in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian arrested and sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan for spying, from February 18 to 21 next year at it headquarters in the Hague.
According to an ICJ release Wednesday, India will begin the first round of oral arguments on February 18, from 10 am to 1 pm, while Pakistan will do so on February 19. The second round or arguments will begin with India on February 20 from 3 pm to 4:30 pm, and Pakistan at the same time a day later.
Both India and Pakistan have submitted written arguments and rejoinders to the court. Expressing confidence that the ICJ would exonerate Jadhav, an Indian official said that "the whole thing is a sordid attempt by the deep state to discredit India, and the truth will prevail at the ICJ."
Pakistan claims that Jadhav was arrested from its restive Balochistan province in March 2016 and that he had admitted upon interrogation to being an Indian spy. India, while admitting that Jadhav was a retired commander of the Indian Navy, denied that he was a spy, and claimed that he had been abducted by Pakistani from neighbouring Iran, where he ran a legitimate business.
When Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2017, India moved the ICJ, which stayed the execution until it heard the case.
in September 2017, India formally accused Pakistan of violating the Vienna Convention by not giving consular access to Jadhav, and demanded that Jadhav's trial should be conducted by a civilian, and not a military court.
On Christmas last year, Pakistan granted access to Jadhav's wife, mother, and officials from the Indian high commission an opportunity to meet him, but the entire exercise turned out to be joke since Jadhav, who looked tired and battered, was kept behind a glass partition, and the family was subjected to a very intrusive search by Pakistani security agencies, and hounded by the Pakistani media
According to the ICJ, "The hearings will be streamed live and on demand (VOD) in English and French on the Court's website as well as on UN Web TV, the United Nations online television channel."