ECtHR orders Russia to compensate two kidnappings in Chechnya

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Russia should pay a fine of 122,724 euros for two lawsuits of Chechen residents.

The first one was filed by parents of Isa Maaev, who disappeared on March 10, 2003. The complaint says that ten men in military uniform broke into Maaev's house and took him away to some unknown place. Since then, nothing was known of his whereabouts. The investigation into Maaev's disappearance started on March 20, 2003.

The second lawsuit was lodged by the wife of Ruslanbek Alikhadziev. Her husband was detained on April 20, 2005, by Russian soldiers at the checkpoint near the village of Meskert-Yurt; and he disappeared. The investigation into his disappearance started on October 12, 2005.

Both investigations are still on.

The Russian party had failed to present part of the information on these two cases to the ECtHR; and stated that it had no evidence that the two residents of Chechnya had been kidnapped by Russian forces.

The ECtHR eventually decided that Russia had violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), namely, Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and personal immunity) and 13 ( right to an effective legal remedy).

According to the decision of the ECtHR, on these two claims Russia has to pay 60,000 euros as material compensation in each of them, plus reimburse legal fees, the "Interfax" reports referring to the ECtHR's release disseminated today.