Georgia’s case against Russia failed to proceed to the world courtroom with an April 1 decision by The Hague's International Court of Justice that Tbilisi has not exhausted other means of solving the dispute.
Georgia wants to sue Russia for interventions in breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia between 1990 and 2008; acts that Tbilisi argues led to the expulsions of thousands of ethnic Georgians from the territories. But the ICJ upheld the Russian side’s argument that Tbilisi has not tried to negotiate a solution with Moscow directly before going to court.
The ICJ, however, rejected Russian claims that Moscow is not responsible for ethnic discrimination that occurred in these conflicts.
Tbilisi says it will follow the court’s conventions, and then come back to The Hague again; Moscow says it's happy with things as they are.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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