Georgia seeks protection from UN court

By Marlise Simons
Published: September 8, 2008

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/08/europe/court.php

PARIS: Georgia on Monday sought the protection of the International Court of Justice for ethnic Georgians living in the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, arguing that they are still being driven from their villages by a "systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing" organized by Russia.

Georgia's immediate aim is for the court, based in The Hague, to issue an injunction ordering Russia to stop "terrorizing" ethnic Georgians and to allow refugees to return to their homes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In an earlier lawsuit, filed in August, Georgia charged Russia with racial discrimination, an issue which the court may address later.

The 15 judges of the highest United Nations court, which deals with conflicts between countries, must first decide if it has jurisdiction over the conflict. If so, lawyers for Georgia said they hoped to obtain the injunction against Russia within two weeks, which would be very fast for this court.

Opening three days of hearings on Monday, Georgia's first deputy minister of justice, Tina Bujaliani, said her country was turning to the court "at a time of great distress in its history, a time when hundreds of thousands of its nationals are persecuted and displaced from their homes only because they are Georgians."

Russia challenged the court's jurisdiction to hear the case, and asked it to dismiss the Georgian application. Roman Kolodkin, for Russia, told judges Georgia had provoked the current crisis last month when it launched an attack to recover control over South Ossetia. He said that Russia had no choice but to become involved to prevent further deaths.