ECtHR finds Russia responsible for torturing Chechen law enforcers

The decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on complaints of the former Chechen law enforcers, Alikhan Akhmedov and Aslanbek Daurbekov, confirms that they had been tortured; but this is unlikely to affect the investigation of this case in Russia, lawyers have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the torture case of Alikhan Akhmedov, a former Grozny policeman, had been investigated for more than 10 years; and in November 2017, the limitation term for attracting to criminal liability expired.

According to Akhmedov, he named to investigators the employees who had beaten him up, but they did not suffer any punishment. Besides, Akhmedov was found guilty of abuse of power with the use of violence for the fact that he and his colleague had allegedly beaten up a law enforcer suspected of killing another law enforcer. Akhmedov was forced to leave Chechnya, fearing for his life.

Aslanbek Daurbekov, an ex-policeman, demanded to investigate his torture in 2010. According to his story, his colleagues forced him to confess to raping and then robbing a resident of Grozny. Under torture, he confessed to the robbery, but then retracted his testimony. Then he was again taken to the station, tortured and demanded to confess to the attack on fuelling stations. In 2011, Daurbekov was sentenced to 11 years and 7 months in a colony.

The ECtHR's decision has pleased us, Luiza, Akhmedov's mother, has commented, noting that Alikhan wanted to work in law enforcement bodies, but the incident forced him to leave the country.

The compensations must be paid in any case, Maria Zadorozhnaya, a lawyer at the International Legal Protection Division of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT)*, has stated.