ECHR Cases from the North Caucasus

In the early morning of 5 August 2002, a group of Russian military servicemen arrived at the Astamirov family's house in Gekhi village and apprehended Aslanbek Astamirov without any explanation. He was driven away in an unknown direction and has not been seen since. The Urus-Martan prosecutor's office did not begin officially investigating his disappearance until December 2002, despite his family's immediate and persistent appeals for assistance.

In the night between 16 and 17 December 2002 a large group of Russian military servicemen, arriving on several military vehicles, violently burst into the homes of Leoma Meshayev and Bislan Saydayev in the village of Martan-Chu. They detained Leoma and Bislan and drove off in the direction of Urus-Martan. Leoma and Bislan have been missing since. Although the domestic investigation concluded that it was likely that military servicemen detained Leoma and Bislan it was unable to identify the perpetrators or the military unit involved in the operation.

When his parents fled hostilities in Grozny in the winter 1999-2000, Adam Ayubov stayed behind to look after the family's house. On 19 January 2000, a group of soldiers arrived in the street where the house was located. They checked the residents' documents and ordered three men, including Ayubov, to get into their Ural military truck before driving away. About an hour later the same truck and soldiers returned and destroyed the house and two cars using a flame-thrower. The two men who were detained with Ayubov were released later that day stating that they had been detained by a unit of the Special Police Force (OMON). Ayubov is still missing. The authorities did not open an investigation into the case until 10 months later.

Early in the morning on 2 January 2003, Russian military servicemen broke into the house of Abubakar Bantayev in the village of Komsomolskoye. The men seized some valuables and took Abubakar with them in an UAZ vehicle. Shortly thereafter, the same operation was repeated in the nearby house of his brother, Salman Bantayev. Salman was forced into an UAZ vehicle that drove towards Gudermes. The brothers have not been seen since. An investigation was later opened into their disappearance but the investigative authorities failed to question key witnesses for more than four and a half years.

On 9 June 2002 at 3 pm Suliman Malikov, Adlan Khatuyev, Aslam Khatuyev, Sayd-Salu Akhmatov and Mansur Ismailov were stopped at a checkpoint manned by federal forces in Duba-Yurt, Chechnya. The men were detained and placed in a truck, which drove away escorted by an armored personnel carrier. Several eyewitnesses, including two members of the special police forces employed at the checkpoint, subsequently stated to investigators that soldiers belonging to the 348th battalion of Interior Ministry troops had detained the men. For several years the authorities denied that they had ever arrested the five men. In October 2007 the Russian government informed the Court that it had detained the five men on 9 June 2002 but they had been released on 10 June 2002. However, it failed to produce any documents showing that the men were released. There has been no news of the five men since.

At about 6.00 a.m. on 22 November 2002 an armoured personnel carrier (APC), an infantry battle vehicle and an Ural vehicle arrived at the Idalov's house in the village of Akhkinchu-Borzoy. A group of Russian military servicemen descended from the cars and started to break the entrance door and windows. Inside the house, they hit Agdulmusum Idalov, tied his arms and pointed a machine-gun at him. Thereafter, they entered the room of his son, Marvan Idalov, a graduate student of secondary school. They tied his arms, put a sack on his head and took him with them in one of their vehicles. Marvan Idalov has not been seen since. Neighbours have submitted that the vehicles drove towards the base of military unit no. 24 which was located near the village The investigation into Marvan's disappearance has not produced any results.

Salambek Khadisov and Islam Tsechoyev, who had never met before, were detained on 23 September 2001 in the Sunhza district of Ingushetia. The next day a local court sanctioned their arrest for 3 days. On the same day they were illegally transferred first to a military base near Nazran, Ingushetia, where they were beaten, and later by helicopter to Khankala, the main Russian military base in Chechnya. Upon arrival they were thrown into a pit in the ground. They were held in the pit for 5 days and were only taken out for interrogation. During interrogations they were severely tortured. The two men were subsequently transferred to the Sixth Department of the Organized Crime Unit of the Staropromyslovskiy district of Grozny and finally released on 12 October 2001. Upon release Salambek and Islam could hardly walk, the skin on their feet peeled off, and their faces and bodies were bloated and covered with haematomas.

At 3 o'clock in the morning on 11 February 2003 approximately fifteen Russian soldiers entered an apartment shared by Isa Zaurbekov and his sister in Grozny. The soldiers detained Zaurbekov and left. Witnesses saw three armed personnel carriers and two other military vehicles drive away from the apartment building immediately thereafter. The authorities failed to open a criminal investigation into the detention until June 2003.  Dokka Itslaev of the Urus-Martan office of Memorial filed an application with ECtHR on behalf of the Zaurbekov family in June 2003. The family has since been represented by Itslaev in cooperation with SRJI.

At about 4.00 a.m. on 21 October 2002 around thirty Russian military servicemen belonging to the Main Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense (GRU) broke into the Dolsayevs' house. The servicemen ordered the men to stand along the wall and checked everyone's identity papers. Some of them searched the house without producing any warrant. Then the servicemen instructed Beslan, Rizvan, Rizavdi and Shuddi Dolsayev to proceed to the courtyard and loaded them into the APC before driving off. The four brothers have not been seen since. The investigation into their disappearance have not produced any results.

In the evening of 10 April 2004, Anzor Sambiyev was at his parents' house in Stariye Atagi, Chechnya. Suddenly, around fifty Russian military servicemen entered the yard and surrounded the house. Anzor's mother was forced out of the house and went into her neighbor's yard. At this point, she heard shooting. When the servicemen left she returned home but could not find her son. In the morning of the next day, Anzor's dead body was found outside a nearby village. The investigation into his death has not been meaningful.

Vakha Khavazhovich Abdurzakov was arrested by Russian military servicemen at his home in the town of Urus-Martan, Chechnya, on 25 October 2002. A few days after Vakha's arrest, his parents were approached by a woman who proposed them to pay a ransom to an officer of the Urus-Martan Department of the FSB in return for the release of their son. The woman later testified to investigators that she gave the money to the officer. However, Vakha was never released.

On 23 October 2002, Saikhasan Dangayev, a senior bailiff, was at his home in Grozny together with his family when a group of Russian military servicemen entered the family's courtyard asking whether there were any weapons in the house. While Dangayev showed them his officer's badge, one of the servicemen shouted at a female family member using swearwords. When Dangayev told the man to watch his language, the servicemen started hitting him. As Dangayev made a grab for his duty weapon, the servicemen shot him several times and then left the courtyard. Dangayev died several minutes later from the wounds. An investigation into the incident has not established who carried out the alleged document check and killed Dangayev.

On 8 September 2002 at about midday, a group of military servicemen in several armed personnel carriers (APCs) arrived at the house of the Dzhabayev family in Urus-Martan. The servicemen ordered everybody out of the house. Ayndi Dzhabayev told his children to go outside while he got dressed. Dzhabayev's son turned around on his way out and saw how the servicemen pointed a gun at his father. When the servicemen left they returned to the house but could not find Dzhabayev. He has been missing since. The investigation into his disappearance has not yielded any results.

From 6 to 11 March 2002 federal military conducted a large-scale sweeping operation in the village of Starye Atagi, Chechnya. Ismail Dzhamayev was apprehended by Russian military servicemen in the morning of 6 March. In the course of the security operation villagers discovered several burned bodies in an abandoned house and in a car flattened by a tank. In June 2004 a forensic examination of the burned bodies established that one of them belonged to Ismail. (See also Akhmadova and Others v. Russia)

On 23 October 2002 Russian federal forces arrested eight men during a large security operation in the village of Chechen-Aul, Chechnya. Two of them were subsequently released. The other six men disappeared, including Magomed Shakhgiriyev, Ali Magomadov, Ismail Umarov, and Umalat Abayev. On 3 November 2002 three villagers from Chechen-Aul, who were searching for the disappeared men, were detained at a military roadblock in Grozny. The three men, including Aslan Israilov and Khasin Yunusov, also disappeared. On 8 November 2002 the bodies of five of the six men who disappeared on 23 October 2002 were discovered in a forest near the village of Vinogradnoye, Chechnya. On 18 April 2003 the bodies of the three men who disappeared on 3 November 2002 were found close to Khankala, the main Russian military base in Chechnya.

On 25 June 2002, Aslanbek Khamzayev was stopped by a group of armed men at a Russian military checkpoint near the village of Aldy. Khamzayev has not been seen since. Despite his family's tireless inquiries concerning his whereabouts, the official investigation has not produced any results.

Between 6 and 11 March 2002  Russian federal forces conducted a large-scale special operation in the village of Starye Atagi under the command of general Borisov. Several young men were removed from their homes and taken to a so-called filtration point. Following detention, ten men, Aslan Akhmadov, Said-Selim Kanayev, Amir Pokayev, Islam Chagayev, Ibragim Magomadov, Magomed Isambayev, Ismail Dzhamayev (see the case of Dzhamayeva and Others v. Russia), Adlan Baysarov, Timur Khadzhayev and Abdul-Naser Zakayevwho, disappeared. In the course of the security operation villagers discovered several burned bodies in an abandoned house and in a car flattened by a tank. Despite repeated requests from the relatives of the missing men the authorities refused to conduct a forensic examination, allegedly for lack of funds. Although the authorities initially recognized that the men were apprehended during the security operation in Starye Atagi, they later claimed that the men were insurgents, who had been killed in fighting with federal forces. In June 2004 a forensic examination of the burned bodies established the identity of six bodies as belonging to Aslan Akhmadov, Said-Selim Kanayev, Amir Pokayev, Islam Chagayev, Ibragim Magomadov and Ismail Dzhamayev. The bodies of Magomed Isambayev, Adlan Baysarov, Timur Khadzhayev and Abdul-Naser Zakayev have not been found.

At about 2.00 a.m. on 3 February 2003 four armoured personnel carriers ("APCs") and four Ural vehicles pulled up in front of a house in the village of Pervomayskaya and around thirty Russian military servicemen broke into it. When they left, they took Ruslan Kasumov with them. Ruslan has been missing since. Although his relatives immediately notified the authorities about his detention, a criminal investigation was not opened until 17 March 2003. The investigation later established that military vehicles were involved in the operation but it failed to identify the servicemen driving them.

In October 1999 hostilities resumed between Russian forces and Chechen armed groups. Grozny came under heavy bombardment. On 22 January 2000 the remaining residents were informed, via an amplifier installed in a helicopter and dropped leaflets, that the following day would be their last opportunity to leave the city through a humanitarian corridor. On 23 January 2000 at 9 a.m. Lipatu Umayeva and her family left the house. They walked in a group of about a hundred other civilians, many wearing white armbands. As the group passed a house where the Russian military was stationed artillery fire and shelling started. A helicopter appeared, from which a sniper fired. Lipatu received several shell and fire wounds and lost consciousness. She could not be taken to a hospital as the shelling continued and did not reach a hospital until a week later. To date she continues to suffer from the consequences of her injuries.

In the morning on 17 September 2003 Russian servicemen stopped Alaudin Gandaloyev, who worked as a forester, his son and another forester in the woods in the outskirts of the village of Gekhi. The men were asked for identity documents and then forced to lie down on the ground. Alaudin's son, lying down behind a car, heard how shots were fired. As the servicemen left shortly thereafter, he found Alaudin and the other forester shot dead. The investigation into Alaudin's death has not produced any results.