14.04.2005
Russia disagrees with Strasbourg ruling on Chechens case

Pavel Laptev, Russia’s special envoy to the European Human Rights Court, intends to appeal against the decision of this court on the action brought by a group of Chechens against Georgia and Russia.

«In terms of its subjectivity, political motivation and commitment to double standards, this decision has gone far further than all the other famous rulings of the European Court in relation to the Russian Federation," Laptev believes.

The European Human Rights Court has partially fulfilled the claim filed by the group of Chechens against Georgia and Russia.

According to the written decision that was circulated on Tuesday by the Strasbourg HQs of the court, complaints from 13 people had been considered within the case of «Shamayev and others against Georgia and Russia."

According to the files of the case, all the plaintiffs are ethnic Chechens and are either Russian or Georgian citizens.

According to the case, in the period of August 3-5, 2002, the plaintiffs were detained by Georgian border guards on the charges of illegal border crossing and carrying weapons illegally, and placed into a pre-detention center. Then, the Russian authorities demanded that the detainees be extradited on the basis of their suspected involvement in illegal armed formations in Chechen territory.

Soon the Georgian prosecutor’s office sanctioned the extradition of five people to Russia where they were later sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.

The court decided that the Georgian authorities had violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ban on «inhuman or degrading treatment»). Besides, the court also held that Article 13 (the right to «an effective remedy») and Article 34 (the right to individual consideration) had been breached by Russia.

With all this in mind, the Strasbourg Court held that the Georgian authorities should pay moral damage to the sum of 2,500-11,000 euros to the plaintiffs and also cover the legal costs (4,000 euros per person).

Moreover, the court decided that Russia had also violated the convention and acted in circumvention of Paragraph 1 of Article 38 of the abovementioned convention by refusing to cooperate duly with the Strasbourg Court on this case.

As a result, the court held that Russia should pay the plaintiffs 6,000 euros in moral damage and also cover their legal expenses (2,000 euros per person). Besides, Russia will have to contribute 1,580.70 euros to the budget of the Council of Europe as a payment for the Strasbourg Court investigation expenditures on this case.

http://www.chechentimes.org/en/news/?id=28085