The ECHR case of Khalitova v. Russia (application no. 39166/04)

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EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

178

5.3.2009

Press release issued by the Registrar

CHAMBER JUDGMENT

KHALITOVA v. RUSSIA

Khalitova v. Russia (no. 39166/04)

The applicant, Luiza Khalitova, is a Russian national who was born in 1966 and lives in Urus-Martan (Chechen Republic). On 11 September 2000 her husband, Lecha Khazhmuradov, while working in the woods near his home village, was shot dead by a group of armed men equipped with armoured personnel carriers in broad daylight. Relying on Articles 2 (right to life) and 13 (right to an effective remedy), the applicant complained that her husband had been killed by Russian servicemen, that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter, and that there had been no effective remedies available to her in respect of those violations.

The Court found it established that Lecha Khazhmuradov had been killed on 11 September 2000 by State agents. Noting that the Russian Government had not provided any plausible explanation at all, the Court concluded that there had been a violation of Article 2 in respect of the applicant’s husband. It further held that there had been a violation of Article 2 relating to the authorities’ failure to carry out a thorough and effective investigation into the circumstances in which the applicant’s husband had been killed. Lastly, it held that there had been a violation of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 2. The Court awarded Mrs Khalitova 35,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 2,400 for costs and expenses. (The judgment is available only in English.)