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Hearings in the Georgia v. Russia Case Fixed for 8-10 September

Acting in accordance with the powers conferred upon her by Article 74, paragraph 4, of the Rules of Court, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, addressed today an urgent communication to the Parties in the proceedings instituted by the Republic of Georgia against the Russian Federation.
Article 74, paragraph 4, of the Rules stipulates that “Pending the meeting of the Court, the President may call upon the parties to act in such a way as will enable any order the Court may make on the request for provisional measures to have its appropriate effects.”

The text of the communication sent to the Parties is reproduced in full below:

“On 12 August 2008 the Republic of Georgia submitted an Application to the Court instituting proceedings against the Russian Federation. On 14 August 2008, the Republic of Georgia submitted a request for indication of provisional measures referring to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 73, 74 and 75 of the Rules of Court.

The convening of the Court for purposes of proceeding to a decision on a Request for the indication of provisional measures should be dealt with as a matter of urgency (Article 74, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Court). At the same time, the date for the hearings should be fixed so as to afford Parties an opportunity of being represented at it (Article 74, paragraph 3, of the Rules of Court).

In the light of these considerations the hearings on the request made by the Republic of Georgia for the indication of provisional measures have now been fixed for 8-10 September 2008.

The Court will at this juncture have to decide whether or not it has prima facie jurisdiction in respect of the case brought by the Republic of Georgia and whether the conditions for the indication of provisional measures are met.

Having considered the gravity of the situation, the President, acting under Article 74, paragraph 4, of the Rules of Court, urgently calls upon the Parties to act in such a way as will enable any order the Court may take on the request for provisional measures to have its appropriate effects.”

Source: ICJ Press Release No. 2008/26, 15 August 2008.

3 Comments

  1. Prasad Subramanyan Prasad Subramanyan 3 September 2008

    I’m curious as to whether the recognition by the Russian Federation of the Ossetian and Abkhazian regions as independent, amounts to a direct violation of the President’s communication? Is there a legal aspect to this?
    More importantly, I think it’s easy to make out that there will be no use of settling this matter in front of the ICJ. It will clearly be the same situation as that of the NATO-Yugoslavia case. Even if a judgment is passed, how useful will that be? The SC can hardly budge an inch.

  2. daniel khabo daniel khabo 15 September 2008

    We all know that the ICJ is an international organ. It is given a mandate of settling international disputes by the UN Charter. Disputes must be brought to the court by states. the Caucus conflict falls in that category if one may say. However, it is worth noting that the court makes its decisions upon evidence brought to it by the parties. it means therefore that a party may bring a claim to the ICJ and lack evidence to prove its claim then it will automatically be quashed. International law has its restriction also. So lets have some trust in the court and it will deliver,whether an opinion or a judgment with all fairness and practicability as possible.

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