ECHR Cases from the North Caucasus

The applicant complains under Articles 6 and 13 of the Convention about the refusal to grant her a residence order in respect of her son. She alleges in this connection that the domestic courts did not assess the family situation and the best interests of the child with sufficient thoroughness. In particular, they disregarded the fact that from his birth and until his abduction by E. I had lived with the applicant. Nor did they take into account that E. had a criminal record. They had not assessed properly the applicant’s and E.’s financial and family situations or work schedules. The applicant further alleges that the childcare authority of Grozny issued its opinion that I. should live with his father without meeting her or examining her living conditions.

The applicants complained of a breach of their property rights through the actions of Russian military forces in Chechnya in 2000 and the failure of the competent domestic authorities to provide them with effective remedies in respect of those breaches. The Court holds that there has been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.

Mr M. Kaimov, having been diagnosed with tuberculosis, started receiving anti-bacterial treatment. On 23 September 2006 Mr M. Kaimov was arrested and, by the final judgment of the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic, on 28 October 2008 he was found guilty of several counts of criminal offences and sentenced to six years and six months of imprisonment. On 1 July 2010 Mr M. Kaimov died. On the following day the authorities issued the death certificate. It did not indicate the cause of death.

The applicant in the case, Arsan Mukayev, was arrested in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan at 13 January 2006. On February 2006 the Russian authorities officially requested the applicant’s extradition to Russia. Then the applicant was taken to remand prison IZ-77/4 in Moscow. On 23 February 2006 Arsan Mukayev was arrived at Operational Search Bureau no. 2 (“ORB-2”) in Grozny, where over the course of month he was subjected to torture on a regular basis, including severe beatings, electrocution, and was forced to sign confessions. In March 2006 the applicant retracted his statements, claiming that he had signed them only to escape further torture, and pled not guilty to the charges against him. Several days afterwards, Arsan was again tortured by electrocution. During his trial the applicant alleged that he had been tortured in detention in order to sign a confession by several police officers whose identities were known to him. On 22 May 2007 the Chechnya Supreme Court Chechnya convicted Arsan Mukayev based in the large part on the applicant’s statements obtained under torture.

The applicants alleged that on 30 September 2002 their husbands Shamkhan Abubakarov and Badrudi Abubakarov had been killed by military servicemen in Chechnya and that the authorities had failed to investigate the matter effectively.

On 23 may 2002 Mr Magomedrasul Magomedov went to his sister’s house in Mesker-Yurt with his friend Mr Kh. M. The next day, when they wanted to leave the settlement, they noticed that Mesker-Yurt was surrounded by military servicemen and all the roads leading to and from the village were blocked. In early June Mr Magomedov and Mr Kh. M. were told by the servicemen to go to the village mosque and join the other residents who had gathered there. Mr Magomedov was taken away from the mosque on the same day and, most probably, taken to the temporary filtration camp. His whereabouts remain unknown since. As for Mr Kh. M., a few days later he was allowed to leave the village.

Between 21 May and 11 June 2002 servicemen of the federal forces conducted a sweeping-up operation in Mesker-Yurt village, Chechnya. They blocked the village, set up a temporary filtration camp at the outskirts of the settlement; as a result of this operation some people were apprehended from their homes, local mosque and other locations in the village. Sixteen persons were transferred to an unknown location and their relatives have had no news of them thereafter.

On 8 October 1999, the applicants Ms Malika Abdulkhadzhiyeva and Mr Ramzan Abdulkhadzhiyev together with the neighbors tried to evacuate their cattle due to artillery fire from the territory controlled by Russian military forces in the outskirts of village Savelyevskaya. Having permission from military, the applicants and other people walked toward the pasture when they were shot by a servicemen standing there. Both applicants were wounded in the arm. Another civilian, who witnessed the incident and tried to approach the servicemen, was shot dead. One of the neighbors managed to inform the authorities about the incident, while both applicants were hooded and moved to the military headquarters of unit no. 54256. They were soon released following the request from the local authorities. The cattle belonging to the applicants remained in control of the military. The criminal proceedings in regard to the incident were started in October 2000, but brought no results.

The applicant did not witness her daughter’s abduction. Her account of the events is based on information obtained from her neighbours in Kalinin. On 31 October 2009, while Ms Zarema Gaysanova was at the applicant’s property on Second Darvina Lane, the law-enforcement authorities launched a special operation in the village, aimed at eliminating members of illegal armed groups. During the operation a man hid in the applicant’s property, which was blocked and shelled until it caught fire. As the house was burning down, Ms Gaysanova was pushed into a UAZ vehicle and taken away. After the house burnt to the ground, law-enforcement officers recovered a man’s body. Shortly thereafter the Chechen President, Mr Ramzan Kadyrov, and the Chechen Minister of the Interior, Mr Ruslan Alkhanov, arrived at the property. Mr Kadyrov, among other things, gave an interview to the local media, saying that a member of illegal armed groups had been “liquidated” in the applicant’s house. The applicant has had no news of her daughter since her disappearance.

On 20 April 2000, during the day, Mr Badrudi Nazyrov and his friend, Mr Said-Selim A., were at the applicant's house in Gekhi when a group of 30 to 40 armed servicemen of the Police Special Task Unit (OMON) arrived in the town in several cars. Some of them were masked. They cordoned off the area and ordered the dwellers to stay inside. About 15 armed servicemen broke into the applicant's house and searched it. Then they beat up Mr Badrudi Nazyrov and his friend, pulled their T-shirts over their heads, put them in a UAZ-"tabletka" vehicle and took them to the Urus-Martan military commander's office. On the following day the military commander's office accepted food package for detained Badrudi Nazyrov; but on the next day the servicemen denied that he had ever been brought to their office. The applicant has not seen Mr Badrudi Nazyrov since the abduction

At the material time Grozny was under curfew. At about 1 a.m. on 16 August 2003 a group of about ten to fifteen armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and masks arrived at the applicant’s block of flats in three grey UAZ vehicles. They broke into the applicant’s flat, quickly searched it, took Ayndi Diniyev outside, forced him in one of their vehicles and drove away. The applicant has not seen her husband since his abduction on 16 August 2003.

It appears that Mr Eduard Zaynadinov actively participated in both Chechen wars in 1994-1996 and 1999-2000. At that time the applicant and her two minor children lived in Shali. In January and February 2000 Russian servicemen regularly visited their dwelling. They searched for firearms and asked her questions concerning her husband’s whereabouts. Fearing for her family’s safety, the applicant moved to the settlement of Kavkaz. In June 2002 Eduard joined them there. On 24 June 2002 servicemen in APCs took him away from home. He was released a week later. On 30 July 2002 between 3 and 4 a.m. a group of armed masked men broke into the applicant’s flat in Kavkaz. They pulled a plastic bag over Eduard Zaynaldinov’s head and took him away. Several days later the servicemen returned to the applicant’s house to search it and to question her about her husband’s involvement in armed hostilities. They found a list of members of illegal armed groups and a number of other documents, such as IDs, in the flat and firearms in the garden. They accused the applicant of being a rebel and beat her to unconsciousness with rubber sticks. Since then the servicemen visited the applicant’s house on a number of occasions, questioning her and threatening to kill her and her children. At some point in 2004 the applicant and her children moved to Nazran, Ingushetia. On 16 November 2004 they fled Chechnya. They were granted refugee status in France where they currently reside. The applicant has not seen Mr Eduard Zaynadinov since his abduction on 30 July 2002.

In the night of 3 to 4 February 2002 the town of Gekhi was under curfew. At around 4 a.m. the 1st applicant learnt from his relative that Mr Ruslan Kagermanov had been abducted from home earlier on same night by a group of armed servicemen who had arrived at his house in a URAL lorry and broken down the door. The neighbours had heard the abductors driving away in the direction of Urus-Martan. The applicant understood that his brother had been taken away by Russian servicemen as at the material time many young men were kidnapped in the same manner during curfew hours. In addition, other witnesses saw servicemen riding APCs in vicinity that night.  Later in the morning the applicants found the URAL trails and footprints of military boots left on the snow by the house. At around 10 a.m. on same morning some 50 to 60 Russian servicemen on several APCs and URAL lorries arrived at the Kagermanov’s house. There was a small oil refinery in their backyard. They searched the premises, threatening to blow up the house. The applicants claimed that the servicemen had carried out a sweeping-up operation in the area and searched other houses with oil refineries. The applicants have not seen Mr Ruslan Kagermanov since his abduction.

The husband of the applicant Muma Babuyev worked as a driver on the main military base of the Russian federal forces in Khankala, Chechnya.  От 30 August 2002 the couple went to the military base for getting the salary of Muma. He entered inside while the applicant was waiting for him at the checkpoint outside. Her husband did not return from the territory of the base. The applicant has not seen Muma Babuyev since 30 August 2002. It is unclear whether the criminal proceedings in respect him disappearance are currently pending.

The Court examined the circumstances of the detention of Mr Islam Deniyev, who was last seen on 24 November 2000 at the “Chernorechensky” checkpoint along the Kavkaz military highway between Alkhan-Yurt and Grozny. Witnesses had seen Mr Deniyev and two others standing outside of their car, surrounded by military men. A short time later, the car he had been driving in, with the same license plate, was spotted in a military convoy. A year after the abduction, the blown-up remains of the car were found as well as the remains of the bodies of the three men, which were identified by relatives. A criminal case was opened only in February 2001 by the Grozny Prosecutor’s office, and although a number of key witnesses were questioned early on, the investigation was soon suspended for a failure to identify the perpetrators. Subsequently the investigation was re-opened and suspended nine times over a period of seven years.

The case concerned the seizure of Mr Salamov’s truck during a counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya. During an identity check in December 1999 military servicemen seized a truck from Mr Salamov’s home in Shali (Chechnya). The truck was eventually returned to him in April 2000, but it was damaged. He thus attempted to submit complaints to the local and military prosecutors, but was advised in August 2003 to seek damages in civil proceedings. He therefore went on to sue the military unit concerned for unlawful seizure of his truck, claiming compensation for missing parts and the cost of repairs. He notably submitted eyewitness statements of the truck’s seizure, two letters issued by military commanders confirming the seizure and return of the vehicle and findings reached by a local administration commission confirming his account of the circumstances of his 10 case. However, in July 2004 the domestic courts, relying on the statements of two servicemen from the military unit in question (who denied having seen the truck) as well as the military unit’s log book (which had no record of the seizure), found that the State could not be held responsible for the damage to Mr Salamov’s truck. This decision was upheld on appeal in September 2004. An internal inquiry was subsequently conducted by the military prosecutor in 2009, during which the military unit stated that it had not conducted any special operations in Shali in December 1999 and that their
archives had no trace of any complaints by Mr Salamov regarding the seizure of his truck. Four servicemen in the military unit in question also signed affidavits confirming that they could not recall a truck seized by a local inhabitant having been used by their unit. Relying on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property), Mr Salamov complained that the seizure of and damage to his truck had breached his property rights.

The applicant alleged that in July 2002 federal servicemen had killed her son, Mr Aslan Dudayev, during an attack on her house and had abducted and subsequently killed her husband, Mr Ali Dudayev, and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter.

Since 1995 Mr Rasul Mukayev has been suffering from a disability. In 2001 and 2002 he was detained in sweeping-up operations in Duba-Yurt and subsequently released since no charges were brought against him. At the material time the village was surrounded by numerous checkpoints. Two checkpoints were located in the vicinity of the applicants’ house. On 3 December 2004 at around 5 a.m. an APC arrived at the applicants’ house in Duba-Yurt. Another APC and two UAZ “tabletka” vehicles remained waiting in a neighbouring street. A group of eight to ten armed servicemen who were masked and in camouflage uniforms broke into the house. Threatening the applicants in unaccented Russian, they searched the house for valuables, arms and ammunition and took some items. The servicemen handcuffed Rasul, pulled his T-shirt over his head and forced him outside, where one of them reported to someone via portable radio: “The object is taken. We are leaving”. The servicemen told the applicants that they were taking Rasul to the ROVD and then drove away in the direction of Khankala. The applicants subsequently learnt from anonymous witnesses that their son had been taken to the Main Federal Military Base in Khankala.The applicants have not seen Mr Rasul Mukayev since his abduction on 3 December 2004.

On 8 August 2000 at around noon a group of more than twenty five masked and armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at the applicant’s house in two APCs and several UAZ “tabletka” cars. They broke inside and quickly searched the premises, taking away all documents and family pictures. They arrested Khasan Sagayev, put him in APC no. 802 and drove away in the direction of the Rostov-Baku highway. There they joined a convoy of APCs and UAZ cars. Other Alkhan-Yurt residents were arrested on that day. Later in the morning Mr Supyan Mokhchayev, the Grozny mayor, contacted a military commander, who reported that APC no. 802 belonged to a Russian regiment stationed on the premises of the Main Federal Military Base in Khankala. However, Khankala servicemen denied this. Mr Mokhchayev also learnt from anonymous witnesses that Khasan had been brought to Khankala and questioned by three investigators. Later on Mr Muni Akhmadov, a resident of Alkhan-Yurt, told the applicant that Khasan’s name was listed in one of the secret databases in Khankala. The applicant has not seen Mr Khasan Sagayev since his abduction on 8 August 2000.

In the aftemoon on 27 May 2002 Magomed Bimuradov was abducted from the street next to his house in the village of Gordaly, Chechnya, by a group of armed masked men in a car. In the presence of a number of witnesses he was forced in the car which drove away in the direction of the Shuani village in the Nozhy-Yurt district. According to the applicant, the abductors belonged to the federal forces. Magomed Bimaradov has gone missing since.  It is unclear whether the investigation into the murder and/or the disappearance of the applicant’s brother has been completed.