The United Nations’ International Court of Justice will hold a public hearing on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case later on Monday. Pakistan, which has sentenced the former Indian Navy officer to death for espionage and other activities, and India, which seeks to defend Jadhav against the charges, will present their arguments in the Great Hall of Justice at The Hague in Netherlands.

Here’s how the case has played out since news of Jadhav’s arrest broke last year:

Arrest and ‘confession’

  • March 3, 2016: Jadhav was arrested by Pakistani officials. He was accused of spying for the Research and Analysis Wing and aiding separatist elements in restive Balochistan. While the Pakistan Army said Jadhav was arrested in Saravan, on the Iran-Pakistan border, Baloch leader Sarfaraz Bugti said he was picked up from Chaman in Balochistan. India, meanwhile, claimed that he was kidnapped by Pakistani forces while in Iran on a business engagement. Even as the Indian High Commissioner was summoned by Pakistan, New Delhi said Jadhav has no links with the government and retired from the Navy in 2002. India was denied consular access to Jadhav, in the first of several such rebuffs.
  • March 29, 2016: Pakistan released a video which showed Jadhav “confessing” to his crimes. India protested, questioning not only the authenticity of the video but accusing Pakistan of torturing Jadhav into “confessing”. In April 2016, the provincial government of Balochistan filed a First Information Report against Jadhav, charging him with terrorism and sabotage.

Claims and counter-claims

  • December 2016: Foreign advisor to Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Sartaj Aziz, admitted that the dossier prepared on Jadhav had mere statements. Aziz said the Pakistani authorities would have to find more evidence against Jadhav for the case to proceed.
  • March 7, 2017: Aziz changed his stance and said Jadhav would not be extradited to India under any circumstances.
  • April 4, 2017: Jadhav is given a death sentence by a martial court. A statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations office said, “RAW agent Commander Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was tried under Section 59 of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, and Section 3 of the Official Secret Act of 1923. He was found guilty of all charges.”

Denied consular access, India cries foul

  • Tried and subsequently sentenced to death, Jadhav was denied consular access several times. This, India said, was in flagrant violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, and issued a demarche saying that the proceedings leading up to the death sentence for Jadhav were “farcical”.
  • April 27, 2017: Pakistan, however, said the trial was “transparent” and was based on “specific evidence”. Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Jadhav’s “confessional video” had led to the dismantling of a terror network in the country. Zakaria’s remarks came a day after India submitted an appeal on behalf of Jadhav’s mother in the Pakistani appellate court against his death sentence. Delhi had also sought visas for Jadhav’s parents and consular access to him; these were denied. The Centre also sought Jadhav’s health certificate, a copy of the death sentence, and the chargesheet filed against him from Pakistan. These were not granted either.
  • In the third week of April, India decided to appeal against the execution before the International Court of Justice.

ICJ stays Jadhav’s execution

May 9, 2017: India obtained a stay order on Jadhav’s execution from the ICJ. Referring to “the extreme gravity and immediacy of the threat that authorities in Pakistan will execute an Indian citizen in violation of obligations Pakistan owes to India”, India urged the court to deliver an order indicating provisional measures immediately, “without waiting for an oral hearing.”

Judge Ronny Abraham of France, ICJ’s president, wrote to the Pakistani government: “In my capacity as president of the court, and exercising powers conferred upon me under Article 74, paragraph 4, of the rules of the court, I call upon Your Excellency’s Government, pending the court’s decision on [India’s] request for the indication of provisional measures, to act in such a way as will enable any order the court may make on this request to have its appropriate effects.”

What happens next

May 15, 2017: Later on Monday, both sides will get around 1.5 hours to present their cases before the ICJ. From 10 am to 11.30 am, India will present its “oral observations”, followed by Pakistan from 11:30 am to 1 pm. The hearings will be streamed live and on demand on the court’s website, as well as on UN Web TV, the United Nations online television channel. After all the material is placed before the court, the judges will privately deliberate and issue their ruling.

This is not the first time the ICJ has heard a dispute between India and Pakistan. In the past, the ICJ’s proceedings on contentious issues have taken months, and sometimes years, to complete.