Merzhueva and others versus Russia (the decision was made on 7 October 2010)

The applicants informed the European Court of Human Rights against an infringement of Articles 2; 3; 5 and 13 (a right to effective legal effective protection) of the European Convention.

The European Court of Human Rights established that the provisions of these Articles were infringed on by the Russian Federation, and awarded to the applicants altogether 8976 euros of indemnification for a material damage and 120000 euros for a moral damage. Also, the Russian Federation is obliged to compensate 7500 euros for litigation expenses.

Sadykov versus Russia (the decision was made on 7 October 2010)
The applicant is Alaudin Sadykov, a former school teacher and an inhabitant of the city of Grozny.

At the time of his detention, Alaudin worked in a funeral team of Ministry of Emergencies of the Russian Federation, and also assisted in the delivery of water and food stuffs to the inhabitants of the Oktyabrsky District of the city of Grozny. Around 10 o'clock in the morning on 5 March 2000 two UAZ cars with Russian servicemen approached him and asked for him to show them the way. When he fulfilled their request, they did not let him to dismount but delivered him to the Oktaybrsky Temporary Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Grozny where a combined detached unit of the militia from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area was based. Here he was kept for almost three months. During his detention, Alaudina was made to chew and swallow the hair shorn off from his head, they burnt the palm of his right hand through, broke his nose, his ribs, knocked his teeth out and then cut off his ear. Apart from that, they stole his property amounting to a sum exceeding three millions roubles from Alaudin’s house.

It is necessary to notice that the combined detached unit of the militia from the Hunty-Mansi Autonomous Area showed itself in Grozny in the most terrible way: arrested persons were subjected to torture in the Octyabrsky Temporary Department of Internal Affairs, and detained people vanished from there.

The European Court of Human Rights ascertained an infringement of Articles 3; 13 and 38 (a duty of parties to cooperate with a court) of the European Convention and Article 1 of the Protocol No.1 of the Convention (protection of property) by the Russian Federation.

They awarded: 70000 euros for a moral damage; 9000 euros for a material damage; and 8375.54 euros for litigation expenditures.

Early in the morning on 13 February 2003 a detachment of upto forty armed men broke into the apartment of Ilyas Yansuev in Grozny. They searched the apartment. When leaving, they took Ilyas Yansuev and his brother Isa Jansuev away. The brothers were made to sit in an armored troop-carrier which drove away to a military base in Khankala. The Yansuev brothers disappeared without a trace. An official investigation of the disappearance was carried out but it yielded no results.

The European Court of Human Rights ascertained an infringement of Articles 2; 3; 5; 13; 34 and 38 of the European Convention of Protection of Human Rights and Basic Freedoms by the Russian Federation.

They awarded: 120000 euros altogether to all the applicants for a moral damage; 27000 euros altogether to all the applicants for a material damage; and 8000 euros for litigation expenses.

The relatives of the applicants, namely Adam Israilov [Isra’ilov], Turpal Israilov, Aslanbek Israilov and Aslanbek Dzhabrailov [Dzabra’ilov] were killed on 7 February 2000 during a special operation in the village of Gehhi-Chu of the Urus-Martanovsky District of the Chechen Republic. The actions of the servicemen were supervised by General Vladimir Shamanov, Commander of the Group “Zapad” [west] of Federal Troops and General Yakov Nedobitko, Commander of the Division “DON-100” of Internal Security Troops of Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The servicemen who conducted searches in the houses of the inhabitants, including that of the applicants, took the above-mentioned men away into a separate courtyard for establishing their involvement in the activity of the insurgents had entered Gekhi-Chu shortly before from the direction of Katyr-Yurt. After the servicemen left the village, the bodies of Adam Israilov, Turpal Israilov, Aslanbek Israilov and Aslanbek Dzhabrailov were found in the court yard of one of the houses. There were gunshot and knife-inflicted wounds on their bodies, including in the area of the heart.

A criminal case regarding this fact was initiated only in July 2000, that is to say five months after the murder of the relatives of the applicants. In December 2000, it was suspened. And it resumed only in November 2005. However, sunsequently the case was again suspended “in connection with the fact of unascertaining the persons subject to be charged as defendants”. An Appeal was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights in April 2006.