Nearly 2,000 complaints have been lodged with the European Court of Human Rights by South Ossetians who complain of human rights abuses by Georgia. The applications reached the court over the past two months, since Russia and Georgia went to war over the breakaway Georgian region.

"We have received very close to 2,000 applications, individual applications, from people living in South Ossetia against Georgia," the president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Jean-Paul Costa, said on Monday. "There will be a massive increase in the workload of the court. We cannot just throw away these cases."

Legal warfare
While soldiers fight wars on the ground and politicians in the political arena, both Russia and Georgia are taking their conflict to international courts. They are battling over the question of who provoked the war. Russia has also made complaints to the international courts in The Hague against Georgia and started its own investigations into genocide allegations.

As well as the 2,000 individual applications from South Ossetians against Georgia, the European Court of Human Rights also has two outstanding claims by Georgia against Russia, the first dating from 2007 and the second from the recent war.

The 2007 case relates to allegations of forced expulsions of Georgians from Russia and is not expected to be completed until early next year. The other case, dealing with events in August, is only at the preliminary stage.

Ethnic cleansing
The complaints before the ECHR follow applications made by Georgia to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Russia, accusing its neighbour of war crimes, including ethnic cleansing.

The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, will rule on 15 October on Georgia's request for protection against what it says was a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Russia during their recent war, a courts spokesman said on Monday.

Georgia instituted proceedings against its neighbour before the ICJ on 12 August, accusing Moscow of ethnic cleansing against Georgians in areas under Russian control during the conflict that forced tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians to flee.

War crimes
While the ICJ rules on disputes between nations, the ICC was set up to try individuals for serious crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. This court, also in The Hague, is conducting an analysis of Georgia over potential war crimes as well.

The courts chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has indicated that the court may launch a preliminary investigation into the conflict in Georgia's breakaway province. His office had been closely monitoring all information on the situation including reports on attacks on civilians since August. The court is expected to decide shortly how it will proceed with the Russia-Georgia related complaints it has received.

South Ossetia
Fighting in South Ossetia erupted in August when Georgia sent its forces to retake control of the pro-Russian province that rejected Georgian rule in the 1990s. Moscow responded by sending in heavily armed troops, who quickly overwhelmed the Georgian soldiers. Both sides have accused each other of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing during the conflict.
European Union monitors have now moved into the region to oversee a ceasefire, with Russian troops due to pull back from "security zones" on Georgia territory by 10 October.