Annual report

SRJI Annual Report 2006

Executive Summary

The Chechnya Justice Project received its first victory before the European Court of Human Rights in July 2006, when the Court issued a positive decision in the Project's first case more than six years after the application was first submitted. By the end of 2006, the Project had won four important cases before the Court.

These victories are tremendously important for the Project's clients. After many years of unsuccessfully seeking justice through the Russian judicial system, victims are finally achieving redress through the ECtHR, which has held the Russian government responsible for violations of their rights. While the financial compensation granted to victims by the Court is often overshadowed by delayed justice, it will provide essential support to families that have often lost their primary provider.

These victories provide hope to the hundreds of applicants with cases still pending before the Court. Three cases decided in 2006 concerned disappearances in Chechnya and set important precedent for the ECtHR. Issues such as the burden of evidence in disappearance cases, the right to compensation for relatives of the disappeared, and the obligations of the state to conduct effective investigations and cooperate with the Court have been affirmed and expanded in these cases.

The victories, however, were also accompanied by less positive developments. In late 2006, the Project experienced significant problems when trying to register its Moscow office under a new law on non-governmental organizations. After two rejections and several months of suspended activities, the application for registration was finally approved in February 2007. While the Project was able to follow up on all the cases that it had submitted to the Court, the suspension of the Moscow office and the additional administrative work diverted energy and resources from the Project’s main activities.

Nonetheless, the Project expects further success before the Court and estimates that another six of the Projects cases will be decided in 2007. The Project will also continue to submit new cases to the Court seeking redress for grave human rights abuses in the North Caucasus.

SRJI Annual Report 2006