PARIS, April 23 (RIA Novosti) - The European Court of
Human Rights has ordered Russia to pay 577,000 euros ($755,000)
in compensation to the relatives of nine people who disappeared
in Chechnya in 2001 and 2004.
According to the announcement released by the court on
Thursday, the plaintiffs said the missing people vanished after
being arrested by Russian servicemen. They also accused the
Russian authorities of failing to effectively investigate the
cases.
Bekkhan Alaudinov disappeared in November 2001, and
another eight people - Bayali and Sharip Yelmurzayev, Khusin
and Isa Khadzhimuradov, Lechi Shaipov, Apti Murtazov, Zelimkhan
Osmayev and Idris Yelmurzaeyv - in March 2004. All were
arrested by servicemen at their homes.
The Strasbourg court ruled that the Russian authorities
had violated a number of articles of the European Convention on
Human Rights, including the right to life, a ban on torture and
humiliation, the right to freedom and security and the right to
effective legal protection.
Chechnya saw two brutal separatist wars in the 1990s and
early 2000s. Militant attacks remain fairly common in the
troubled republic.
Russia has lost the majority of cases brought against it
in the Strasbourg court. In 2008, the court ruled against
Russia 245 times. Overall, around 20% of all complaints made to
the court in the past decade have involved Russia.
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