ECtHR orders Russia to pay 300,000 euros to Chechen resident

Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) pronounced the decision to collect from Russia 300,000 euros in favour of Imar-Ali Damaev, a resident of Chechnya, whose wife and five children were killed in an air attack of federal aviation in 2004.

In his lawsuit, the complainant stated that on April 8, 2004, at about 1:30 p.m., two warplanes committed several rocket and bomb attacks on the village of Rigakhoi of the Vedeno District. About an hour later, the outskirts of the village were attacked. At that time, Imar-Ali Damaev visited a cemetery, located away from the village. His wife Maidat Tsintsaeva and five children were at home. When Imar-Ali heard the explosions, he rushed to the house. When he reached the place, he saw that his house had been completely destroyed. Having examined the ruins, the complainant found bodies of his wife and his children.

Despite the complaint about death of civilians, filed to the law enforcement agencies of the Vedeno District of Chechnya, representatives of the Military Prosecutor's Office refused to initiate a criminal case.

On April 13, 2004, Natalia Estemirova, the staff member of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial", visited the village of Rigakhoi. She made photographs of results of the bombing, the ruins of the house, and the labelled air bomb fragments. Local residents opened the grave by their own efforts and made video and photographs of the victims. In eight days, the criminal case on the fact of the death of the woman and five children was instituted.

The ECtHR reports that the government of the Russian Federation did not provide the materials of the criminal case. In absence of any reasonable explanation for the incident made by the government side, the ECtHR concluded that the wife and the children of Imar-Ali Damaev were killed in the attack of the federal air forces. The ECtHR also ruled that the authorities failed to conduct the effective investigation into the death of the complainant's family members.

As a result of the consideration of the lawsuit, the ECtHR ordered Russia to pay to Imar-Ali Damaev compensation for moral damage and litigation costs amounting to 300,000 euros. This was stated by the report of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial".

Apart from the complainant, out of all family members of Imar-Ali Damaev, only his eldest son, who had been at school at the time of the air attack, survived, the "RAPSI" (Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information) reports.