ICJ issues provisional measures addressed to both Georgia and Russia in a case initiated by Georgia.
15 October 2008 - The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, today issued an Order for provisional measures in a case filed by Georgia for the application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. EPAM, together with a group of prominent European lawyers, advised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in these proceedings.
Although the case was initiated by Georgia, the UN Court rejected Georgia's request for provisional measures to be unilaterally applied against Russia and instead directed several well-balanced provisional measures that applied to both parties.
The decision was one of the narrowest votes in the Court's history, an 8-7 margin, indicating that even at this very preliminary stage in the proceedings, almost half of the judges voted against even considering Georgia's claim prima facie for jurisdictional reasons.
"The Court decided not to rule against Russia, as was requested by Georgia, but ordered that both parties have to comply with international law", - Russian Foreign Ministry commented upon the Court's Order.
"The fact that Georgia was slapped by the Court with the provisional measures in circumstances where Georgia itself had initiated the case speaks volumes. Of course, The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination has no relevance to this conflict. The race convention has been dragged before this court by Georgia to support an artificial claim and thereby invoke the jurisdiction of the court. This is perhaps why half of the court's judges voted against accepting Georgia's claim for consideration", - said Dimitry Afanasiev, the Chairman of EPAM.
Taking into consideration the preliminary nature of the Court's decision to recognise prima facie jurisdiction over the case with respect to the provisional measures, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it will continue to challenge the Court's jurisdiction at the next hearing.
For advising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in the proceedings in the International Court of Justice on the case initiated by Georgia against Russia on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, EPAM was honored with the Letter of Commendation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov.
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For further information:
Olga Frolova
Tel: +7 495 935 80 10
Mob: +7 926 217 70 89
Olga_Frolova@epam.ru
Anna Kacherova
Tel: +7 495 935 80 10
Моb.: +7 909 916 2726
Anna_Kacherova@epam.ru
About EPAM
EPAM is a leading national law firm in Russia with offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg and an associated office in London EPAM LLP. Founded in 1993, the firm combines extensive emerging markets experience with international professional standards. It regularly represents international companies doing business in Russia and Russian companies going international. EPAM regularly acts for the Russian Federation in transactional and litigation matters. The firm also frequently serves as Russian counsel to leading international law firms.