Relatives of casualties on October 13, 2005, in Nalchik dissatisfied with ECtHR's decision

Parents of the persons who perished on October 13, 2005, in Nalchik are disappointed with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the case of refusal of Russian authorities to give out bodies of suspected militants for burial.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that 50 residents of the republic, whose sons died on October 13, 2005, during the attack on security forces in Nalchik, submitted their complaints, on October 26 and November 15, 2005, to the ECtHR in connection with the fact that the bodies were not given out to them for burial. In June 2007, the Russian Constitutional Court refused to allow giving out bodies for burial. In June 2006, militants' bodies were cremated, which was reported by the Russian General Prosecutor's Office in July 2007.

The ECtHR has acknowledged that in this case Russia violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), namely "The right to respect for private and family life" (Article 8) and "The right to an effective remedy" (Article 13).

The casualties' relatives have expressed their dissatisfaction with the ECtHR's decision during their meeting with Anastasia Kushleiko, the director for legal matters of the organization "Legal Assistance 'Astrea'/Legal Initiative for Russia" (which represented applicants at the ECtHR), which took place on June 6 at the Kabardino-Balkarian human rights centre, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

In her answers to reporters' questions, Ms Kushleiko explained that the decision of the ECtHR does not provide for any financial compensation of moral harm to the applicants. However, she stressed that the decision set a precedent for similar cases.