ECtHR fines Russia by 137,500 euros on claims of Chechen residents

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg has fined the Russian Government by 137,500 euros for disappearance of a resident of Chechnya and for ineffective investigation into the death of two children from Chechnya at missile attack.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by the executive director of the "Legal Initiative for Russia", which helped the applicants in presenting the case, that the Court found Russia to have broken Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) "in the procedural sense." The ECtHR had acknowledged that Russian authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation into the death of schoolchildren in 2000.

"The Court did not find enough proofs to condemn Russia on the merits of Article 2 of the ECHR, that is to accuse governmental forces of murdering the children," she added.

Thus, the applicants - mothers of the two perished schoolchildren - will get 30,000 euros each.

Besides, according to the source, today the Strasbourg Court has considered the case about disappearance in 2004 of Khamid Mukaev, a resident of Chechnya. On that case, the court has also decided to compensate the applicants - Mukaev's relatives - with 60,000 euros for their moral harm and 6000 euros more for their material damage.