International Court Throws Out Georgia Russia Dispute

The International Court of Justice has thrown out a case in which Georgia accuses Russia of ethnic cleansing.

The court announced Friday that it has no jurisdiction to decide the case because Russia and Georgia had not attempted to negotiate a settlement on their own before bringing it to court.

The case stems from a long-running dispute over two breakaway Georgian provinces that led to a five-day war in 2008. Georgia says after a cease-fire was reached and it pulled its troops out of the fighting, Russian officials and members of separatist militias continued operations in the region.

Georgia blames Russia for the murder of hundreds of Georgian civilians, extensive destruction of property, and displacement of a vast number of ethnic Georgians in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.