WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2019) The Russian government asked a US court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the former director of the Crimea shipyard "Morye," Vitalyi Krivenko, who is seeking $500 million in damages, according to a court filing.
Krivenko was dismissed from his post in March 2014 and claimed in a lawsuit that the dismissal was done illegally, citing alleged violations of international agreements like the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land.
Attorney Carolyn Lamm representing the Russian Federation argued that the country enjoys immunity in US courts in accordance with US law on sovereign immunity. While there are allowed exceptions in the law, the property in question is not located in the United States and therefore the case is not under the jurisdiction of the US court.
"As demonstrated in the Motion, (i) all of Plaintiffs' statutory claims should be dismissed based on the presumption against extraterritoriality, (ii) all of Plaintiffs' treaty-based claims should be dismissed because the four multilateral treaties relied upon are not self-executing and do not create private rights of action, and (iii) Plaintiffs' unjust enrichment claims should be dismissed as untimely," the filing said. "Accordingly, even if this Court could exercise jurisdiction in this case (which it cannot), the Complaint must nonetheless be dismissed in its entirety for failure to state a claim."
In addition, Lamm noted the concepts of "political matter" and "state actions" in US law, and said actions of the foreign government cannot be tried in US courts.
The Crimean peninsula reunited with Russia in March 2014 as a result of a referendum, in which 97 percent of voters supported the reunification. The results of the referendum were rejected by Ukraine and the United States, both of which consider Crimea to be part of the country's territory.
Russia has repeatedly stated that the referendum in Crimea was held in compliance with international law.
