European Court in Strasbourg finds Russia guilty in three Chechen cases

Today, the European Court on Human Rights has unanimously convicted Russia for disappearances of four men in different areas of Chechnya in the period from August 2002 to December 2004. The applicants were awarded compensation for material and mental damage in the sum of 157,000 euros.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 12 this year the European Court obliged Russia to pay out 247,000 euros for disappearances of five residents of Chechnya in 2000-2003.

One of today's cases - "Astamirova et al. versus Russia" - has to do with disappearance of Aslanbek Astamirov on August 5, 2002, in the village of Gekhi, Chechnya. Late at night about 30 militaries rushed into Astamirovs' house and detained Aslanbek. Since then, there are no news about him, as reported by the "Legal Initiative for Russia", which helped the applicants.

The applicants in the case "Sagaev et al. versus Russia" are relatives of Ilyas Sagaev and his nephew Yunadi Sagaev. On August 30, 2002, Ilyas was detained by Russian militaries in his own house in Urus-Martan in Chechnya. His neighbours confirmed that the militaries had arrived in armoured troop carriers (ATCs). On September 13, 2002, militaries forced Yunadi away from his house in Urus-Martan. Since their detention, there is no news about Ilyas and Yunadi.

The case "Vagapova and Zubiraev versus Russia" concerns disappearance of Alis Zubiraev in the Chechen village of Chechen-Aul. Russian authorities had recognized that in the early morning on December 21, 2004, a special operation was conducted in Chechen-Aul, but denied that Alis had been detained. The neighbour of Alis' family, who was also arrested in the same operation but later released, evidenced that he had been taken away in the same military van with Alis.