EU court receives hundreds of complaints against Georgia

The complaints, most of them coming from the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, accuse Georgia of violating the right to life, integrity of goods along with inhumane and degrading treatment, the court’s press service said.

While the court is unlikely to treat them -- it could only do so if all local judicial options have been exhausted -- the allegations will have an impact on statistics on Georgia the court is to publish shortly, a western diplomat said.

A Council of Europe lawmaker from Turkey said, following a visit to Georgia, that there had been "ethnic cleansing" in Georgian villages.

"This could be considered systematic ethnic cleansing and the authors should be brought to justice," said Yavuz Mildon, a Turkish lawmaker at the council.

Russia and Georgia have been trading accusations of rights violations, including ethnic cleansing, since clashes between the two broke out in August over South Ossetia. Rights groups, including Georgian ones, have accused Moscow and Tbilisi of violations.

Georgia has instituted proceedings against Moscow before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, asking most immediately for interim protection measures against Russia.

Russia has refused to become a part of the European Court of Human Rights, saying it is too political. But the court has already called on Russia not to take action which could harm civilians in Georgia, following a request by the Georgian government.