International Court of Justice to hear Georgia-Russia case

Georgia will appeal to judges at the International Court of Justice today to impose emergency measures to halt what it calls a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Russia in the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The case at The Hague, in the Netherlands, opens a new legal front in the battle between Georgia and Russia for control of the regions and comes as French president Nicolas Sarkozy heads to Moscow for talks on the stand-off.