ECHR Cases from the North Caucasus

On 21 May 2004 a group of about ten armed police officers detained Mr Shamkhan Murdalov at the “Chernorechenskiy” traffic control checkpoint at the entrance to Grozny and took him away in a “Gazel” minivan.
On 5 April 2005 the Zavodskoy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 41035. The investigation is still pending.

On 10 October 2004 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in two APCs and two URAL vehicles and took Mr Musa Mintsaligov away. On 1 November 2004 the Achkhoy-Martan inter-district prosecutors’ office opened criminal case no. 38052. The investigation is still pending.

On 12 March 2001 Mr Vait Askhabov was taken away from his garden in Chiri‑Yurt by servicemen in an Ural lorry. On 12 July 2001 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 23132 into Vait Askhabov’s abduction. The investigation is still pending.

On 15 May 2002 a group of about twenty armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in two APCs and took Mr MagomedEmin Mezhidov away. On 28 November 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59266. The investigation is still pending.

On 14 May 2002 a group of armed military servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived in the applicants’ village in APCs and URAL vehicles and took Mr Akhyad Shakhidov and Mr Khamzat Shakhidov away. On 16 June 2002 the Vedeno district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 73038. The investigation is still pending.

On 16 August 2002 (in the documents submitted also stated as 17 August 2002) a group of about forty to fifty servicemen in camouflage uniforms and masks arrived at the applicants’ house in two APCs and an Ural lorry and took Mr Magomed Israilov away. On 29 August 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59221. The investigation is still pending.

The applicants are close relatives of Rustam Makayev who was allegedly abducted in 2001 by servicemen from home in Chechnya. The event took place in the area under full control of the military forces. The applicants have had no news of their missing relative thereafter. The proceedings, after having been suspended and resumed on several occasions, have been pending for several years without attaining any tangible results. Referring to Article 2 of the Convention, the applicants complain of the violation of the right to life of their relative and submit that the circumstances of his abduction and ensuing disappearance indicate that he had been abducted by State agents. The applicants further complain that no effective investigation was carried out into the incident.

On 13 April 2003 a group of fifteen to twenty armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in an APC and two UAZ vehicles and took Mr Ruslan Edilsultanov away. On 12 May 2003 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 22080. The investigation is still pending.

The applicant is the mother of Salakh Yakhyaev  who was allegedly abducted in 2003 by servicemen from home in Chechnya. The event took place in the area under full control of the military forces. The applicants have had no news of their missing relative thereafter. The proceedings, after having been suspended and resumed on several occasions, have been pending for several years without attaining any tangible results. Referring to Article 2 of the Convention, the applicant complains of the violation of the right to life of her relative and submits that the circumstances of his abduction and ensuing disappearance indicate that he had been abducted by State agents. The applicant further complains that no effective investigation was carried out into the incident.

On 1 April 2005 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in a Gazel, a VAZ-21099, a VAZ-2109 and a VAZ 2106 vehicles and took Mr Rizvan Oybuyev away. On 6 May 2005 the Grozny district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 44037. The investigation is still pending.

On 22 July 2002 Mr Razamabek Isiyev drove his car on the Argun Shali highway, when he was stopped by a group of servicemen in APC and taken to the FSB office in Argun. On 3 August 2002 the Argun district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 78081. The investigation is currently pending.

The applicants are close relatives of Movsar Limayev  who was allegedly abducted in 2002 by servicemen from home in Chechnya. The event took place in the area under full control of the military forces. The applicants have had no news of their missing relative thereafter. The proceedings, after having been suspended and resumed on several occasions, have been pending for several years without attaining any tangible results. Referring to Article 2 of the Convention, the applicants complain of the violation of the right to life of their relative and submit that the circumstances of his abduction and ensuing disappearance indicate that he had been abducted by State agents. The applicants further complain that no effective investigation was carried out into the incident.

On 2 April 2005 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in two UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicles and a Niva model car and took Mr Suleiman Said-Khusein Elmurzayev away. On 14 June 2005 the Shali district prosecutors’ office opened criminal case no. 46060. The investigation is still pending.

On 3 August 2004 a group of about thirty armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in a VAZ-21010, UAZ vehicles and a Zhiguli model car and took Mr Magomed Elzhurkayev away. On 13 August 2004 the Staropromyslovskiy district prosecutors’ office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 33066. The investigation is still pending.

On 18 January 2005 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicant’s house in an APC, two UAZ vehicles and a Niva car and took Mr Saykhan Isayev away. On 8 June 2005 the Grozny district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 44048 (in the documents submitted the number was also referred to as 44004). The investigation is still pending.

On 17 February 2005 a group of around twenty armed servicemen arrived at the Mr Adam Sadgayev’s house in a Gazel and UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicles and took him away. On 5 April 2005 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 46036. The investigation is still pending.

At about 3 a.m. on 4 November 2002 a group of ten to twelve armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas broke into the applicants’ house in the village of Goyskoye. Speaking unaccented Russian, the servicemen searched the premises, checked Mr Zayndi Dudarkayev’s passport and took him away to an unknown destination. At the time of the events the applicants’ neighbours saw heavy military vehicles parked on the road near their house. Two days after the abduction, on 6 November 2002, the same military servicemen again arrived at the applicants’ house in an Ural lorry. They thoroughly searched the premises and left. The whereabouts of Mr Zayndi Dudarkayev have remained unknown since the date of his abduction. The abduction took place in the presence of the applicants.

On 25 and 19 September 2002 respectively the applicants were arrested in Grozny in the Chechen Republic and taken to the temporary detention. For several days they remained without legal assistance. Their families were unaware of their whereabouts. The applicants submitted that during those days they were repeatedly ill-treated and forced into confessing to being members of an illegal armed group in Grozny, and to the murders of several people, including police officers and military servicemen. Following the applicants’ conviction, in September 2004 their families requested to allocate them to penal facilities in regions adjacent to their home region, the Chechen Republic. Nevertheless, the first applicant was allocated to a strict-regime correctional colony in the Republic of Komi, (3,000 kilometres from the Chechen Republic) and the second applicant was first allocated to a strict regime correctional colony in the Omsk Region (3,400 kilometres from the Chechen Republic) and then transferred to Murmansk region ( 3,700 km from the Chechen Republic). The Court found violations of several rights: a violation of Article 3 of the Convention under its substantive limb in that the applicants were subjected to torture, and under its procedural limb on account of the lack of an effective investigation into their allegations; a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (as the convictions were based on the confessions that the applicants had made under duress); and a violation of Article 8 of the Convention (as the authorities’ decisions to allocate the applicants to remote penal facilities to serve their prison sentences amounted to an interference with their right to respect for their family life).

The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention about the authorities’ failure to enforce the judgment of 25 June 2014 granting her a residence order in respect of her children.

In 1999 the administrative authorities of the Leninskiy District of Grozny provided the applicant with a housing allocation (a one‑room municipal flat in Grozny), where she consequently registered in 2005. Two years later, in 2007, the authorities decided to conduct an examination of all allocation orders granting occupation of municipal accommodation. The applicant’s housing allocation order appeared suspicious to the authorities and they commissioned an expert to verify its authenticity. The examination concluded that the allocation order was a forged document and the administration of Grozny brought court proceedings seeking to declare the allocation order null and void and to evict her from the flat in question. On 24 February 2009 the Leninskiy District Court of Grozny declared the housing allocation order null and void and issued an order to evict the applicant without provision of alternative accommodation. The Court held that there has been a violation of the applicant's right to respect for her home, as provided by Article 8 of the Convention.