The Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung published an article entitled "The most sinister country in Europe" (Das finsterste Land in Europa) about the brutalities of Russian occupation and terrorist gangs on the territory of the Caucasus Emirate. These terrorists are being eliminated by Mujahideen in the Caucasian Jihad. The article says in particular:
"Russia has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights more than 150 times for roughest human rights violations. 300 cases are still pending.
Up till now, Strasbourg judges condemned Moscow for disappearance and murder of the total number of about 200 Chechens.
"It's a sad record," said Roemer Lemaitre from the human rights organization Russian Justice Initiative, which helps many Chechens with their claims in Strasbourg.
"Russia has been condemned for infringing the basic right to protection of life more often than all other 46 members of the Council of Europe together".
The perpetrators remain unpunished in Russia. Most alarming for the Council of Europe is the fact that Russia does not implement the Strasbourg court decisions. Yes, Russia is paying the families of the victims the compensations ordered by the Court for Human Rights - since the first Chechen judgment in February 2005, the total amount is more than 10.5 million euros.
But the main demand of Europe - to find and punish the criminals - remains unfulfilled up till now. "Only "very few perpetrators" have been convicted so far", said the Cypriot social democrat Christos Pourgouridis, who supervises the implementation of court decisions in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
And in this case, these are only "criminals at a lower level". Real criminals, such as generals and officers of the Russian army, remain unpunished to this day.
The Court for Human Rights increasingly indicates that Russia launch an investigation only many years after the crime, when virtually all traces are erased. And even if the Strasbourg court names a particular criminal, he remains unpunished.
For example, Moscow has up till done nothing to send general Baranov to the dock. In February 2000, he ordered to kill one prisoner in front of TV cameras.
Moreover, Chechens who turn to complain to the Strasbourg Court, are increasingly terrorized. This is probably the reason why the number of claims is decreasing, said Pourgouridis.
80 new claims were received last year. This year they were only about 30 so far.
Human rights activists, who support the victims' families, are also subjected to terror, said lawyer Lemaitre and points out: "Chechnya is a very dangerous place for human rights defenders".
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
