European Court of Human Rights communicated Zara Murtazaliyeva's case

European Court of Human Rights has put two questions to the Russian Federation on the case of Zara Murtazaliyeva, native of Chechnya sentenced to 8,5 years of custody and serving her penalty in a prison camp of Mordovia, concerning observation of clause 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This news was reported by Kirill Koroteyev, Zara Murtazaliyeva's attorney.

We will remind that Zara Murtazaliyeva has been staying in prison for already six years. On January, 2005, Moscow Municipal Court sentenced Murtazaliyeva to nine years of imprisonment in a general regime colony acknowledging her guilty of preparing an act of terror and involving other persons in it. Besides, the court acknowledged her guilty of illegal storage and purchasing an explosive. Later on, the Supreme Court reduced the penalty term by half a year. In October, 2008, Zubovo-Polyansky district court refused the girl's petition for release on parole giving the reason that she had not acknowledged her guilt.

European Court of Human Rights is asking the Russian Federation about the reasons for not having interrogated the witnesses on the case who had taken part in the investigative actions and not allowing the defendant who was being kept in a metallic cage and her attorneys to view the video materials the accusation was based upon during the trial. Russia is obliged to answer these question until March, 9, 2011, a report of "Memorial" Human Rights Center received by the editorial board of "Caucasian Knot" runs.

Attorney Vladimir Suvorov submitted a complaint on Zara Murtazaliyeva's case to the European Court of Human Rights in September, 2005. As Suvorov then told a reporter of "Caucasian Knot", there were all kinds of obstacles for submission of the complaint, in particular, for a whole month he was unable to receive a power of attorney from Murtazaliyeva for submitting the suit. When asked whether Zara Murtazaliyeva herself believed in fair judgment of the Strasbourg court the attorney said: "Hope is the last to die".

Kirill Koroteyev, member of "Memorial" Human Rights Center, is now Zara's attorney in the European court because of Vladimir Suvorov's untimely death.

Russian and Chechen human rights activists have formerly time and again emphasized a lack of logic in the investigation on Murtazaliyeva's case considering that the accusation against her had been forged. Ramzan Kadyrov when he was yet Prime Minister of Chechnya had promised to strive for reconsideration of Zara Murtazaliyeva's case.