Compensation to Salakh Vakhaev is unique for Chechnya

Although the compensation awarded to Salakh Vakhaev for unlawful prosecution has been halved, the very fact thereof is a precedent for Chechnya, Oyub Titiev, a human rights defender, has noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya had halved the compensation awarded by the district court to Salakh Vakhaev for several years of illegal criminal prosecution - from 300,000 roubles down to 150,000 roubles.

The awarding of compensation to Salakh Vakhaev for illegal criminal prosecution is a unique case, even despite the fact that the amount of compensation was halved, said Oyub Titiev.

"In itself, the fact that the court awarded him some compensation is something new. Since he had suffered from the local law enforcers, who illegally detained him," the rights defender has explained.

According to Oyub Titiev, it is difficult to recall any similar examples in the republic.

"It's good that this happened in Chechnya, where 'the law is in Kadyrov's basement.' When they want to imprison a person, then they do it. The fact that a person was able to prove that he was persecuted illegally makes this case extraordinary. Such cases are quite rare in Russia as well," Marina Agaltsova, a lawyer, has added.

However, in her opinion, the compensation of 150,000 roubles is very low. "They, of course, fail to compensate the moral sufferings that he had experienced," Ms Agaltsova has stated.

Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the "Civic Assistance" Committee*, finds it important in Vakhaev's case that he was awarded compensation for unlawful persecution, and that it was eventually halved. "The first fact says that one can achieve something in court; and the second – that the system resists and continues working against citizens," she has stated.