The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold four public hearings in September into the case initiated two years ago by Georgia against Russia, the Hague-based court said in a statement on August 5.

Georgia filed application to ICG on August 12, 2008 over Russia’s “serious violations of its fundamental 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 between 1990 and August 2008.

ICJ said in the statement that all four public hearings from September 13 to September 17, during which Russia and Georgia will present their arguments, “will concern solely the preliminary objections to jurisdiction raised by the Russian Federation.”

Russia presented its preliminary objections on jurisdiction to ICJ in December, 2009, as Russia claims that the Hague-based court is not competent to rule on the case.