Communiqué No. 51/16,
(Unof ficial)
The following information from the Registry of the
International Caurt of Justice has been commnicated to the press:
The first twe public sittings of the Internztional Court of
Justice in the Haya de la Torre case betwien the Republlc of Colombia
and th~ Republic of Peru wem bld to-day, May 15th.
Aftar cpening the rnarning sitting, President Basdevant
pronouncecl a fumral oration for Judge Azevedo, whose death occurred
on May 7th last, and called upon the Court and the pubxc ka observe
3 minute of silence.
The Court then proceeded to instax the two ad hoc Judges
designated by Peruand Colombia, MFI,Alayza y Paz Soldan and
Caicedo Castilla respectively, vrho made the solemn declaration
provided for under the Statute,
As is ml1 knom, the present case was brought before the Court
by an A~~2licstion of the &verment af .Colombia, filed in the Registrg
on December Wh, 1950, which stated that the Governments of Colombia
and Peru had not been able to agree on what action should be taken
12ursuant to the Judgments of the Court dated November 20th and 27th,1950,
in the case concerning the right of asylm. The Colombiari.Goverment
consequently requests the Courtta state whether it is bound to deliver
to the Peruvian Goverment, the political leader, Victor Raul Haya
de la Torre wllo is at presenta refugee in the Colombian Embsssy 2t
Lima.. It is also knom that, as Colombia had stated thatits
Apslication relied on the Havana Convention of 1928, the Cuban
Governmnt, which is a party to Lhat Convention, addresseda letter
to thc Registrar dated Febmary lrth, 1951 which the Presider~t of the
Court nas considered to constitute a declaration of intervention bascd
on Article 67 of the Btatute,
As thc Peruvian Governmcn tontestcd the admissibility of the
Cuban intervention the Court hezrd to-day the observations whi ch
the Agentsof the 'k'overnmsnts conccrned wished to prcsent on the
admis sibility of that intervention.
M, Felipe Tudela y Barreda, Agent, and Professor Gidel,
Counselfor the bvernment of Peru, presented the case of that
Government . They were followed by W. Brigard, Counsel for the
Government of Colombia and Madame Flora Diaz Parrado, Agent of the
Cuban Government, Char&e d'Affaires of the Xepublic of cuba at
The Hague.
The next hearing, which will be devoted to the merits of the
case, will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, lhy 16th at 10.30 a,m.
The Hague, May ISth, 1951,
Haya de la Torre (Colombia/Peru) - Public hearings of 15 May 1951