ECtHR fines Russia by 244,500 euros for disappearance of three Chechen residents

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg has obliged Russia to pay a fine of 244,500 euros on three complaints lodged by Chechen residents.

The first lawsuit was filed by parents, brother and sister of the Chechen native Valid Gerasiev, who disappeared in February 2000. The application states that Gerasiev went from home to the woods to gather firewood and got under fire. He took refuge in a nearby village, but during a search he was found and taken away by people in military uniform. Since then, nothing was known about his whereabouts.

The second lawsuit was filed by parents, brother, sister, wife and son of the Chechen native Abdul Kosumov. According to the applicants, on November 21, 2002, armed men broke into Kosumov's house and took him away to some unknown place.

The third lawsuit was filed by mother, wife and son of the Chechen native Magomed-Emi Kudaev and said that on March 27, 2004, ten men in military uniform broke into the Kudaev's house and took him away to some unknown place.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has decided that in all the three cases Russia had violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), in particular, Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security) and 13 (right to an effective legal remedy), the "Interfax" reports.