ECtHR refuses to reconsider case of journalists beaten in Ingushetia

Judges from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) have refused to send for reconsideration the case of beating in Ingushetia of rights defender Oleg Orlov and three journalists. Russia is obliged to pay 84,000 euros of compensation to the complainants.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 23, 2007, in Nazran, rights defender Oleg Orlov and Karen Sakhinov, Artyom Vysotsky, and Stanislav Goryachikh, journalists of the "Ren TV" TV Channel, were kidnapped and beaten. The kidnappers took away their documents, mobile phones, laptops, and video equipment and threatened to shoot and killed them. Oleg Orlov believes the kidnapping was committed by law enforcers. On March 14, the ECtHR found the Russian authorities responsible for violating the complainants' rights and obliged to pay them compensation amounting to 84,000 euros, including 19,500 euros for moral damage to each complainant.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) challenged the ECtHR's decision on the complaint filed by Oleg Orlov and three journalists about kidnapping and ill-treatment by public officers, illegal deprivation of freedom, confiscation of things and lack of effective investigation into the incident from the authorities.

Earlier, Oleg Orlov, a Board Member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", and journalist Stanislav Goryachikh stated that the main point in the case is not the compensation amount, but the recognition of the state's responsibility and the demand to punish the guilty persons.

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