Oleg Orlov: for first time, ECtHR finds Kadyrov's power agents guilty of kidnapping

For the first time, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that the law enforcement agencies of "Kadyrov's" Chechnya are responsible for kidnapping of a person. This was emphasized by the experts when they commented on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights pronounced on the case of Abdul-Yazit Askhabov kidnapped in Chechnya.

The case of Abdul-Yazit Askhabov is not the first decision, pronounced by the ECtHR after Ramzan Kadyrov came to power; however, it is unique in the fact that the ECtHR has pointed to guilty persons directly responsible for the disappearance of the person. This opinion was expressed by Oleg Orlov, the member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

"The European Court had pronounced about 200 decisions and pointed out that the power agencies of the Russian Federation are guilty of kidnappings and killings of residents of the Chechen Republic... This is the first time when we can say that the very law enforcement agencies of the Chechen Republic are guilty of kidnapping of the person," Oleg Orlov has commented on the ECtHR's decision to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The first case (considered by the ECtHR) regarding the crime committed after the establishment in the Chechen Republic of the regime of the Ramzan Kadyrov's personal power was the case "Suleimanov vs. Russia". "All the earlier ECtHR's decision regarding the complaints of residents of Chechnya concerned the events of 1999-2006, and those complaints were about the crimes committed by staff members of the federal forces," Oleg Orlov stated.

"Decisions on Chechnya mainly deal with torture, killings and disappearances of persons committed during the period starting from 1999 till 2004-2005. Nearly all of those crimes, according to the recognition of the European Court, were committed by representatives of the federal forces. However, after 2006, withdrawal of federal forces was started in Chechnya. In 2009, only local power agents were operating in the territory of Chechnya," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Roemer Lemaitre, an international law expert from the organization "Committee against Torture".