The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined Russia 150 Thousand Euros over ethnic based violence against Chechen civilians in 2002 and in 2006 in the Kurgan region of Russia.

Here are the press releases:

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Press Release
ECHR 197 (2014)
03.07.2014

The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing the following two judgements.

Amadayev v. Russia (no. 18114/06)
Antayev and Others v. Russia (no. 37966/07)

Both cases concerned incidents of violence against people of Chechen ethnic origin in the Kurgan Region of Russia.

The applicant in the first case is Zhanar-Ali Amadayev, a Chechen national, who was born in 1965 and lives in Chastoozerye, a district in the Kurgan Region (Russia). He was attacked on 18 May 2002 in front of his house by a group of up to 15 men. The men shot him in both knees with an airgun, causing fractures, and beat him with baseball bats, breaking his arm. An investigation into the attack was immediately opened and, by the end of June 2002, a dozen witnesses had been questioned. Subsequently, two identification parades took place, the scene of the incident was examined and Mr Amadayev and another victim were medically examined. The investigation was, however, suspended in August 2002 for failure to identify the perpetrators of the attack and, as of August 2011, there appears to have been no further investigative steps taken.

Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Mr Amadayev notably alleged that, despite prior warning about the possibility of ethnic violence, the Russian authorities had failed to prevent the attack. He also alleged under Article 38 (obligation to furnish necessary facilities for the examination of the case) that the Russian Government had failed to submit copies of additional documents in his case’s investigation file.

The applicants in the second case are two families, the Antayev’s and the Vashayev’s, ten Chechen nationals, born between 1936 and 1992, and living in the Vargashinskiy District, Kurgan Region (Russia). Eight of the applicants allege that they were beaten and injured by the police during searches carried out at their homes on 24 March 2006 following a fight in which two members of the Antayev and Vashayev families were involved. They also allege that the police shouted racist verbal abuse at them during the searches. The prosecuting authorities opened a criminal investigation into the applicants’ allegations a month after the searches. The investigation has since been suspended and reopened a number of times and is currently still pending with it thus far having proved impossible to identify the police officers who had allegedly ill-treated the applicants.

Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), eight of the applicants alleged that they had been subjected to ill-treatment by the police and that the ensuing investigation into their allegations had been ineffective. The other two applicants complain about the anguish they had suffered as witnesses to their families’ ill-treatment.

The applicants in the second case also relied on Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 3 (prohibition of torture and of inhuman or degrading treatment), alleging that the incidents of violence against them had been racially motivated and that the authorities had failed to investigate these allegations.

– In the case of Amadayev:

Violation of Article 3 – in that the State has not complied with its positive obligation in this respect
No violation of Article 38

Just satisfaction: 20,000 (non-pecuniary damage) and EUR 2,500 (costs and expenses)

– In the case of Antayev and Others:

Violation of Article 3 (inhuman and degrading treatment) – in respect of the first to sixth, and ninth applicants
Violation of Article 3 (torture) – in respect of the eighth applicant
Violation of Article 3 (investigation) – in respect of the first to sixth, eighth and ninth applicants
No violation of Article 3 (treatment and investigation) – in respect of the seventh and tenth applicants
Violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 (treatment and investigation) – in respect of the first to sixth, eighth and ninth applicants
No violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 – in respect of the seventh and tenth applicants

Just satisfaction: EUR 15,000 to each of the first to sixth and ninth applicants (non-pecuniary damage), EUR 20,000 to the eighth applicant (non-pecuniary damage), and EUR 3,000 jointly to the first to sixth, eighth and ninth applicants (costs and expenses)