Residents of Chechnya win three suits against Russia at ECtHR

The Russian Federation has again lost at the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg; this time on three cases initiated by residents of Chechnya who accused Russia's authorities of disappearance and murder of their relatives.

Eleven residents of Chechnya had complained that on July 6, 2002, their relatives Lecha Basaev and Lemma Dikaev were taken away by armed persons in camouflage and are still missing.

The husband and son of Khava Magomadova, a resident of Chechnya, had stated in their claim that the woman disappeared on December 16, 2002, on her way to work.

The third complaint was filed by 10 relatives of Muslim Nenkaev, a former resident of Chechnya, who disappeared after he was taken away from his home in Urus-Martan on June 8, 2002, by a group of armed people in camouflage, as reported by "Gazeta.Ru".

All the applicants had addressed to Russian bodies of justice, however, as all of them assert, local instances failed to properly investigate the disappearances of their relatives. The European Court has studied the circumstances of the three cases and ruled that Russia had broken a number of articles of the European Conventions on Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as noted by the "GZT.ru".