Justice unwelcome

Applicants to the European Court of Human Rights are again killed in Chechnya.

Local residents found the mutilated body of an unknown man on the outskirts of Iliinskaia, Grozny district, on 8 May 2005. The dead man was later confirmed as Said-Hussein Elmurzayev, resident in Duba-Yurt, Shali district, one of the few residents of the republic who have lodged a complaint with the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.

Said-Hussein Elmurzayev and his son Suleiman were brought away from their home in Duba-Yurt on the night of 2 April 2005 by armed people in camouflage uniforms. Their relatives have since tried to find them.

Said-Hussein and Suleiman applied to the European Court of Human Rights after Russian military men had brought away and killed Said-Hussein's other son, Idris Elmurzayev, in March 2004. The young man's body with marks of cruel torture was found on 9 April 2004. Said-Hussein's relatives believe it is the complaint that caused his son's and his abduction and further extrajudicial execution. Local public and human rights organisations agree with that.

"Said-Hussein Elmurzayev is not the first applicant to the Strasbourg court who has fallen victim to extrajudicial execution on the part of the military. His execution is nothing but a political killing and open intimidation of people who might have planned applying to Strasbourg with a complaint about the abuse of the Russian military and local law enforcement and security agencies," a human rights activist said. This is not the first case of killing Chechen citizens who have dared to complain to the European Court of Human Rights.

"In June 2002, Russian military men brought away a local resident, Said-Magomed Imakayev, during a 'clean-up' in Novye Atagi, Shali district. He has since been missing. A few months before, his wife Maret and he had lodged a complaint with the Strasbourg court. The ground for the complaint was that the military had abducted their 23-year-old son, Said-Hussein Imakayev, on 17 December 2000. Said-Magomed and his son have since been missing," the activist said.

Another fact of extrajudicial execution of an applicant to the European Court of Human Rights was registered in May 2003. Officers of Russian law enforcement and security agencies killed local residents Ramzan Iduyev, his son Idris, wife Zura Bitiyev, and her brother Abubakar Bitiyev in Kalinovskaia, Naurskaia district, on 21 May 2003.

They all were shot dead at home in Filatov St by servicemen in masks. Zura Bitiyev had lodged a complaint with the Strasbourg court in April 2000 because in January 2000 she had been detained and kept in the Chernokozovo, Naurskaia district, filtration camp where she had been subjected to cruel torture and inhuman treatment. Zura Bitiyev was well-known in the republic as a civil society figure and an anti-war movement activist.

After her cruel execution, her relatives abandoned attempts to seek justice in the European Court of Human Rights. There is information though that the same decision has been made by the relatives of the Imakayevs and Said-Hussein Elmurzayev.

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