Democratic republic of Antara and Velan Kingdom of Ravaria are located in the same

peninsula, which were under Zemin colonial rule until 1949.

Velan is the pre-dominant religion in southern parts of peninsula, including Ravaria. Velans
consider it a religious obligation to visit five sacred temples in their lifetime, one of which
known as the kuvil shrine, located in Sutha.

Sutha is located between the two countries, which remained under Zemin Rule until 1962,
owing to some dispute between Antara and Ravaria.

This dispute was resolved by the Singapore treaty of 1962, which was convened by the UN
general assembly. Sutha was incorporated in Antara. Sutha could demand a referendum
regarding its independence after at least 25 years, by a 2/3rd vote of Suthan legislative council
and Antaran National Parliament. Ravaria was still adamant on its independence.

Pano is a social media giant. In 2017, due to a series of cyberattacks, Protect Antaran
Cyberspace act was enacted, and Data Protection and Cybersecurity Agency was established
for its enforcement.

Liam Hunland, a Velan theologist, Ravarian citizen and resident of Antara in Sutha has a large
Pano following. He supports Sutha’s independence and is affiliated to an increasingly popular
political party called Suthan independence party (SIP). In 2020, Antara imposed Covid-19
travel and gathering restrictions, which restricted Suthans and Ravarians from accessing and
gathering near the Kuvil Shrine. This was protested against by Ravarian ambassador Benny
Walters on the grounds of violation of Treaty of Singapore. Liam Hunland protested against it
on Pano and later established a think tank called Suthans against Domination (SAD). Unusual
activity on Pano through inauthentic accounts was reported by Internet Law and Security
Assembly around May 2020. Misinformative posts against Ravaria’s measures were shared by
Prof. Hunland as well. In August 2020 Parliamentary elections, Antara’s ruling party lost its
majority and SIP’s vote increased nationally. After forming a coalition with PM Lubinsky, SIP
put forward resolutions for Suthan referendum, which was accepted by parliament in October
and the referendum was scheduled on March 1, 2021. Accordingly, the SAD began
mobilization in referendum’s support. Prof. Hunland made several inflammatory Pano posts.
It was also found that SAD had received thrice the donation than any other organization
involved in the referendum. Prof Hunland continued posting on Pano, many of which were
shown by independent observers to be false. Pano flagged 63% of Hunland’s posts owing to
complaints of misinformation. Later, Antaran cyberspace authorities filed a petition before
their Federal court for suspension of Hunland’s Pano account and removal of all posts owing
to incendiary and misinformative posts. The federal court ordered the same and hence Pano
suspended Hunland’s account, along with removal of his posts. Hunland unsuccessfully filed
a suit against Pano in Zemin. His appeal for injunction against account suspension order was
also rejected by Antaran Federal Court. Referendum took place and Suthan’s independence
was supported by majority. Accordingly, two-year transition period began. A week before the
referendum before the Federal court of Antara, DPCA provided evidence of the existence of
“Lunar Botnet”. The botnet infected several devices and assisted the spread of misinformation.
DPCA, through a court order under PACA, launched “Operation Moonstroke”. It hacked the
servers remotely in order to disable the botnet, whose exact location still couldn’t be found.
5,000 of the hacked devices were in Ravaria.

Later, the wife of the Ravarian ambassador, while driving a car in an intoxicated state, hit and
caused the death of an Antaran citizen. She was arrested by the Antaran authorities, and her
briefcase was seized. It was later searched without her consent. Certain documents and
evidence regarding the financial and cyber involvement of Ravaria in the cause of Suthan
independence were found in it. It was also found afterwards that the Lunar Botnet was operated
by SAD with Ravaria’s help. Following some hostile oral exchanges between the countries, a
conciliation meeting was convened. It was recorded with the consent of both sides. Afterwards,
the parties signed a special agreement and agreed to present the case before ICJ.

Antara and Ravaria have at all relevant times been parties to the Charter of the United Nations,
the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the
Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (the Budapest Convention), the Vienna
Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. They
are not parties to any other treaty or convention of potential relevance in this Case.