Security

The Russian Justice Initiative and others who provide legal aid to victims of human rights violations in Chechnya have documented growing threats to the security of their clients. Applicants from Chechnya with pending European Court cases have, in the most serious instances, been killed, detained or subjected to enforced disappearance. Other applicants (and/or their relatives, friends or associates) have been followed, beaten, questioned and threatened. Applicants (or their relatives) have also been threatened expressly as a result of the fact that they have made applications to the European Court. In other cases, applicants have been threatened as a consequence of their efforts to pursue domestic avenues of redress.

The most serious incident involving one of the Project’s applicants concerns the disappearance of Said-Magomed Imakayev, who disappeared in 2002—just four months after his application to the European Court regarding the disappearance of his son in 2000. On 9 November 2006, the European Court held Russia responsible for both disappearances (see Imakayeva v. Russia, no. 7615/02).

In response to specific instances of threats or harassment, the Russian Justice Initiative immediately informs the European Court of the incident to secure expedited review applications. The project has also established security measures related to protection of information about cases and identities of potential applicants and witnesses. The project continues to prioritize frequent contact with all applicants in order to be fully informed of any threats or harassment as well as general case information. 

In response to ongoing security concerns, the Project led a team in late 2003 that included colleagues from the European Human Rights Advocacy Center and the International Helsinki Federation’s Individual Rights Project, which authored and published a document on the model ethics, obligations, and security measures for use by representatives of victims from Chechnya. The authors then distributed this document among partner NGOs, participants at subsequent trainings, and to colleagues at the Council of Europe.