In the International Court of Justice today, the UN court decided it would not hear a complaint filed by the country of Georgia against Russia for human rights violations.
The court voted 10-6 today that the International Court had no jurisdiction to hear the case, reasoning that the two sides never entered into negotiations to try and settle the dispute.
Georgia first brought the case to the International Court in 2008, right before the end of a five-day war between Georgia and Russia.
Georgia claims that Russia murdered citizens based on ethnicity, effectively participating in ethnic cleansing.
For the Russians, their counter argument was that no negotiations took place between the two sides to settle any issues over the ethnic killings.
While the Court has decided to not hear the case, Georgian officials have vowed that this will not be the end of their fight for justice.
(This article contains information obtained from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12935149, http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/International-Court-Throws-Out-Georgia—Russia-Dispute–119052804.html and http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/04/2011411347650197.html)
