Strasbourg Court Blasts Russia for Non-Investigation of Disappearances in Chechnya

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held Tuesday that Russia has systemically violated fundamental rights in connection with disappearances that have occurred in the Northern Caucuses since 1999. The case at hand, Aslakhanova and Others v. Russia, specifically involved the cases of eight men who disappeared from Chechnya between March 2002 and July 2004. All of these disappearances occurred after the men were arrested by groups of armed, masked men. In many cases, these groups were wearing camouflage and/or driving military vehicles. Having concluded that the claimants presented a prima facie case that state actors had been behind the victims’ abductions, the burden of proof shifted to the state to convince the court otherwise. Ultimately, however, the burden was not satisfied; no compelling alternative explanation was advanced. The court thus held that Russia violated the rights of its citizens to life (Article 2), liberty and security (Article 5), and effective remedy (Article 13), as well as the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 3). Noting that it had dealt with 120 similar cases connected with disappearances that have occurred in the region since 1999, the ECHR asserted that at its core, this problem is based on the state’s failure to investigate these crimes. The ECHR thus supported the recommendation that Russia should establish a body charged with solving disappearances in the Northern Caucuses, and that body should have unfettered access toward that end. Finally, the court held that Russia should pay tens of thousands of Euros to each set of claimants in damages.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20121218/265826846.html