ICJ to Rule on Georgia’s Request on Provisional Measures against Russia
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 7 Oct.'08 / 03:49

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will rule on the Georgian request to impose provisional measures on Russia on October 15, the Hague-based court said in a statement on Monday.

In its application filed on August 12, Georgia claims Russia violated its obligations under the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) “during three distinct phases of its interventions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia” in the period from 1990 to August 2008.

Georgia requested that the court impose provisional measures on Russia “as a matter of urgency” to help stop, what it called, ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population in areas occupied by Russian forces in August.

In particular, Georgia demanded that Russia take measures to ensures that no ethnic Georgians or others are subject to violent or coercive acts of racial discrimination; to refrain from adopting any measures that would prejudice the right of ethnic Georgians to participate fully and equally in the public affairs of South Ossetia and Abkhazia; to refrain from taking any actions or supporting any measures that would deny ethnic Georgians and others, expelled from South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and adjacent regions, their right of return to their homes.

Russia said in response during the hearings in the Hague on September 8-10 that the case was beyond the ICJ’s remit.

Russia’s representative also said at the hearings that Russia would not be able to meet the Georgian demands.

“Provisional measures as they were formulated by the applicant [Georgia] in the requests cannot be granted since they would impose on Russia obligations that it is not able to fulfill,” Roman Kolodkin, head of the legal department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said.

”The Russian Federation is not exercising effective control vis-à-vis South Ossetia and Abkhazia or any adjacent parts of Georgia. Acts of organs of South Ossetia and Abkhazia or private groups and individuals are not attributable to the Russian Federation,” he added.

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