Mother of killed Nalchik resident wins case at ECtHR

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found unlawful the Kabardino-Balkarian Supreme Court’s refusal to Madina Bapinaeva in giving out the body of her son, who was shot dead by law enforcers. However, the ECtHR did not oblige the Russian authorities to pay any compensation for moral damage.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in 2008, the Supreme Court (SC) of Kabardino-Balkaria refused to give out the body of Radik Bapinaev, killed in 2007 in Nalchik during a clash with a police patrol, to his mother for burial. Radik Bapinaev was suspected of participating in an attack and murder of GIBDD (road police) inspectors in 2005.

In February 2005, Muslim Ataev, the leader of the “Yarmuk Jamaat”, was liquidated in Nalchik. During the special operation, a pregnant sister of Radik Bapinaev was killed. After the death of his sister, Radik Bapinaev joined the “Yarmuk Jamaat”.

On March 27, 2007, Radik Bapinaev failed to obey to a police request to stop for an identity check on a street in Nalchik. The man rendered resistance to the police and tried to escape. When the police inspectors caught up with him, Radik Bapinaev opened fire on them. Then a grenade exploded in the Radik Bapinaev’s hands, and he died at the scene.

Since April 2007, Madina Bapinaeva requested the authorities to give out to her the body of her son for burial, but courts dismissed the woman’s requests.

When the state makes it impossible for people to bury a killed relative, it “punishes” first of all his relatives, says Rustam Matsev, a lawyer for the NGO “Legal Initiative”*.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of non-profit organizations-foreign agents.