Georgia will launch a fightback against Russia today, not on the battlefield but in the rarified confines of the Peace Palace which hosts the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Lawyers acting for the Georgians will have three hours to present opening arguments in the Great Hall of Justice to seek an emergency order from the high court of the United Nations for protection against alleged ethnic cleansing and guarantees of safe passage back for refugees from the conflict.

Russia will then have up to three hours to put counter arguments to the Georgian claims and demands - if it accepts the jurisdiction of the court, which parties can dispute on a case by case basis.

The ICJ, established by the 1945 Charter of the United Nations and also known as the World Court, has set aside three days for the case. It has no power to enforce the judgments of its 15 judges, which nevertheless carry significant moral weight.

Paul Reichler, the American lawyer representing Georgia, said: “This important case...seeks to put an end to Bosnia-style ethnic cleansing that Russian and its allied separatist elements are currently carrying out on a daily basis against ethnic

Georgians, threatening their lives and burning their homes and villages. The court’s urgent intervention is needed to stop the pogroms and save human lives.”

Georgia instituted proceedings against Russia on August 12, four days after the outbreak of hostilities, accusing it of breaches of the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). But as it can take months for the court to decide whether or not to take the case, Georgia brought another application two days later asking for interim protection measures.

In this application, Georgia asks the court to order Russia to “take all necessary measures to ensure that no ethnic Georgians or any other persons are subject to violent or coercive acts of racial discrimination.”

The Georgian court submission stated: “The Russian Federation has now assumed control over all of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as adjacent areas within the territory of Georgia, following its invasion commencing on 8 August 2008.”

It claims that ethnic Georgians in these areas had been subjected to physical violence, resulting in civilian deaths and the terrorising and mass exodus of inhabitants.

The application added: “The manifest objective of this discriminatory campaign is the mass-expulsion of the ethnic Georgian population from South Ossetia, Abkhazia and other neighbouring areas of Georgia.

“It reflects a Russian policy, commencing in the 1990s, to consolidate the authority of ethnic separatists under Russia’s direction and control over Georgia’s territory through ethnic cleansing and denial of the right of return.

“There is compelling evidence that Russian forces are directly involved in using violence and other coercive measures to consolidate and make permanent the removal of ethnic Georgians from South Ossetia, Abkhazia and adjacent regions.”

Russian government spokesmen in Brussels did not return calls about the case.

A provisional order or injunction is expected within weeks if the court decides it has jurisdiction to hear the case. Georgia and Russia would then make written submissions to the court for the case proper.<QA1>

Maia Panjikidze, Georgia’s ambassador to the Netherlands, said: “We know such procedures can take years and we are also very patient. [But] I believe the court will not take as long to act as in other cases because the situation on the ground is really very difficult now and we need a decision very soon because the population is suffering.”

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