Mother of the trooper who perished in Chechnya lodges 1-million claim to Strasbourg Court

Mother of Vadim Chugunov, a Russian trooper, who perished in the battle near Ulus-Kert in 2000, believes that the failure of the Russian party to pay her the due compensation for the death of her son in Chechnya is a violation of the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Vadim, Dina Chugunova's son, was recruited in summer of 1999. In early 2000, with his sixth squadron of the 104th paraborne regiment of the 76th Pskov Division of Airborne Forces (known as "VDV") he was sent to Chechnya. The fight, in which 84 troopers were lost, took place at night on March 1, 2000, at the entrance to the Argun Gorge, near Ulus-Kert village. Mother was informed about his son's death on March 8. Vadim Chugunov was posthumously decorated with the Order of Courage.

The woman addressed her claim to the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg and asked to collect one million euros from Russia as moral and material compensation. Her application runs that, in her opinion, Russia had breached Article 1 of Appendix 2 to the Convention: every person shall have the right to freely use his or her property, and nobody can be deprived of one's property.

The state paid about 700 thousand roubles to every mother of the lost troopers. However, Dina Chugunova states that the state had not paid her a lump sum of 100 thousand roubles according to the Law "On Combating Terrorism". At the same time, the mother had not moved her claims earlier, as she learnt about her right to receive the payment only in 2005. She then addressed the Russian Ministry of Defence, but they refused to pay, as the "Kommersant" writes.

 According to this edition, more parents, whose children perished in Chechnya, are going to follow Dina Chugunova.

On November 9, the Ministry of Defence could not comment the mother's claim; and the Ministry of Justice said that they would answer all the claims after the Strasbourg Court had accepted the complaint to consideration and sent the respective questions to the Russian party.

In his turn, Pavel Popovskikh, chairman of the central board of the Russian Union of Troopers, has noted that the woman had a bit hurried with her complaint to the European Court, as her problems could be possibly settled in Russia.