A court in Ecuador has flatly rejected a call by arbitrators to give Chevron temporary protection from a $9.5 billion pollution ruling, but will allow the US oil giant to appeal to the supreme court.

Last week's order by an arbitration panel in The Hague was meant to buy Chevron time to fight the 2011 judgment against it for environmental damage in the Ecuadoran jungle allegedly caused by Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001.

But a court in the northeastern Ecuadoran province of Sucumbios ruled that while the panel's finding might be "binding for Ecuador, it cannot force its justices to violate our citizens' human rights."

It also said it had accepted an appeal filed by Chevron in January, and had referred it to the country's highest court, according to a copy of the decision obtained by AFP.

The Hague panel had ordered Quito to "take all measures necessary to suspend or cause to be suspended the enforcement and recognition within and without Ecuador" of the February 14, 2011 judgment.

That was meant to let Chevron pursue its case against the so-called "Lago Agrio" judgment in the tribunal set up under the US-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).

Chevron argues that Ecuador violated the treaty by taking the case to its domestic court.

The lawsuit on behalf of indigenous Ecuadoran Amazon communities in the Lago Agrio region dates back to the first complaint filed in New York in 1993.

It sought $27 billion for water and soil damage, as well as for illnesses suffered by local residents which they say resulted from Texaco's alleged dumping of billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon between 1964 and 1990.

But the case has been tainted by claims and counterclaims of misconduct and corruption on both sides.

In 2009, Chevron -- which claims to have done the necessary clean-up -- posted videos online purporting to show a bribery scheme implicating the judge presiding over the lawsuit.

The judge recused himself days after the videos were released.