Rights defenders: ECtHR indicates Russia's systemic problems in investigating disappearances in Northern Caucasus

The case "Djabrailov at al versus Russia" has demonstrated that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has passed to the "conveyor-like consideration" complaints submitted by residents of Northern Caucasus, because of systemic problems of non-investigation of disappearances, said Furkat Tishaev, the legal director of the independent non-commercial organization "Astreya". Many lawyers in Northern Caucasus refuse to work with such cases, fearing pressure from the authorities, said Magomed Barakhoev, another lawyer from the "Astreya".

The ECtHR has awarded a huge amount of compensation to the applicants – almost 1 million euros in total. Cases with this scale of compensation are rare, Furkat Tishaev has commented on the court decision to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The conclusion that can be drawn from this set of cases looks as follows: the individual crimes of power agents, to which residents of Northern Caucasus had complained, is "a part of the state system of illegal violence, including kidnappings, acts of torture, illegal prisons and extrajudicial executions. Such system could not work without the approval by the very top of Russia's vertical of power," Oleg Orlov, a member of the board of the HRC "Memorial", is sure.