HRC "Memorial" states authorities' unwillingness to execute ECtHR's decisions on Chechen cases

When executing decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Russian authorities are just paying compensations, while those responsible for atrocious crimes remain unpunished. This was stated by activists of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in their comments on the resolution of the Committee of Ministers (CoM) of the Council of Europe (CE) on the ineffective investigation into the cases of extrajudicial executions and torture in Chechnya.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 24, 2005, the ECtHR ruled in favour of the group of applicants' complaints "Khashiev and Akaeva vs. Russia". Today, the CoM of the CE has made the resolution public, stating that the Russian party had failed to properly investigate these crimes.

Oleg Orlov, the head of the programme "Hotspots" of the HRC "Memorial", has highlighted, out of the whole scope of cases, some most resonant ones, in particular, the mass murder of people in the settlement of Zdorovye (Health) near the Khankala military base.

"A dump of dead bodies was found with signs of torture. These people had been detained by power agents at different times under different circumstances, and then disappeared," he said.

Alexander Cherkasov, the Chairman of the HRC "Memorial", has added that the cases "Luluev vs. Russia" and "Musaev et al. vs. Russia", remain uninvestigated. In total, 55 bodies were officially found near the above settlement.

The case "Estamirov et al. vs. Russia" is also among the unsolved high-profile ones," Mr Orlov has added.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.