Mexico calls on World Court to suspend Ecuador pending embassy raid apology

MEXICO CITY/THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Mexico has asked the top court of the United Nations to suspend Ecuador’s membership until the South American country issues a public apology for its raid on Mexico’s embassy in Quito, court filings released by the International Court of Justice showed on Thursday.

The case filed by Mexico accuses Ecuador of violating international law and a U.N. treaty on diplomatic relations by carrying out an armed raid on the Mexican embassy.

It asks the court to suspend Ecuador from the U.N. unless and until it issues “a public apology recognizing its violations to the fundamental principles and norms of international law, to guarantee the reparation to the moral harm inflicted upon the United Mexican States and its affected nationals”.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries have been suspended since Friday, when Ecuadorean police forcefully entered the embassy in order to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought and been granted political asylum in Mexico.

Regional governments rallied around Mexico after the embassy raid and Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena expressed confidence that Mexico’s case would be supported at the court. Under international law, embassies are considered the sovereign territory of the country they represent.

“Mexico is accusing (Ecuador) of violating the diplomatic immunity of its embassy,” Barcena said, calling it “a violation that is not justified anywhere.”

The government of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa has argued the asylum protection was illegal because of corruption charges Glas is facing.

Mexico has asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to issue emergency measures, including securing the embassy and other diplomatic premises and allowing Mexican officials to clear diplomatic buildings and the private homes of their diplomatic agents in Ecuador.

Usually the ICJ sets hearings on emergency measures within weeks of an application. A final ruling in the case can take years and while its rulings are final the court has no means to enforce them.

Ecuador’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

(Reporting by Raul Cortes, Ana Isabel Martinez and Brendan O’Boyle in Mexico City and Stephanie Van den Berg in The HagueEditing by Rosalba O’Brien)