HRC under Russian President insists on giving out militants' bodies to their relatives

The Human Rights Council (HRC) under the President of the Russian Federation plans to move an initiative to amend the legislation and repeal the ban on giving out militants' bodies to their families for burial. This decision was made by HRC members during their visit to Chechnya. It is planned that this issue will be raised at the meeting with Russian President in September.

On July 10, Andrei Babushkin, an HRC member said that "bodies of all killed people should be given out to relatives." He was supported by other members of the HRC.

"The practice of refusal to give out bodies has been criticized by all parties – residents of Chechnya, human rights activists and public organizations," Sergey Krivenko, an HRC member, has recalled. He believes that "this practice is totally unfit for the culture of North-Caucasian nations, and for the Russian culture."

The State Duma is reticent to rights defenders' proposal to lift the ban on giving out militants' bodies to their families and noted that the idea while "understandable for moral reasons," still requires a comprehensive discussion.

Let us remind you that on June 6, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) considered a complaint against the refusal to give out the bodies of the militants killed at the attack on Nalchik in October 2005 to their relatives and found violations committed by Russia's authorities. On the same day the ECtHR found a violation in the refusal to give out the body of Aslan Maskhadov, the president of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, to his relatives.