South Ossetia floods rights court with Georgia writs

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Court of Human Rights has received nearly 2,000 applications from South Ossetians complaining of illegal treatment at the hands of Georgia, the president of the court, Jean-Paul Costa, said on Monday.

The complaints have been filed over the past two months, since Russia and Georgia went to war over the breakaway Georgian region on Aug. 7, and underline the extent of the legal minefields each country is trying to lay for the other.

They follow applications made by Georgia to the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights against Russia, accusing its neighbour of war crimes, including ethnic cleansing.

Russia has also made complaints to international courts against Georgia, and Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said last month Russia would help any citizens of South Ossetia wanting to make complaints against Georgia.

"We (have received) very close to 2,000 applications, individual applications, from people living in South Ossetia against Georgia," Costa told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in London.

"There will be a massive increase in the workload of the court. We cannot just throw away these cases."

Asked if he thought Russia was part of a coordinated effort to overwhelm the court with applications, he said: "Yes, it's possible. It's difficult to say that it's obvious or it's likely. But it's possible."

Since the conflict erupted, Georgia and Russia have engaged in mutual recrimination over who provoked the war. 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 Oct. 10.

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, Costa said.

Other international courts, including the International Criminal Court in the Hague, are expected to decide shortly how they will proceed with the Russia-Georgia related complaints they have received.