The ECHR case of Gekhayeva and others v. Russia (application no. 1755\/04).<\/p>\n
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..<\/span><\/p>\n \n \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 388<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 29.5.2008<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Press release issued by the Registrar<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n CHAMBER JUDGMENT<\/span> The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing its Chamber judgment1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a> in the case of Gekhayeva and Others v. Russia <\/span>(application no. 1755\/04). <\/span><\/p>\n The Court held unanimously that there had been:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>a violation of Article 2<\/span> (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of the applicants\u2019 daughters and sister: Kurbika Zinabdiyeva and Aminat Dugayeva;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>a violation of Article 2<\/span> concerning Russia\u2019s failure to conduct an effective investigation into the disappearances of Kurbika Zinabdiyeva and Aminat Dugayeva;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>a violation of Article 3<\/span> (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) in respect of the applicants;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>a violation of Article 5<\/span> (right to liberty and security) in respect of Kurbika Zinabdiyeva and Aminat Dugayeva; and,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00b7 <\/span>a violation of Article 13<\/span> (right to an effective remedy).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court awarded 35,000\u00a0euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage to Aminat Dugayeva\u2019s mother, and EUR 35,000, jointly, to Kurbika Zinabdiyeva\u2019s mother and sisters. The applicants were awarded, jointly, EUR\u00a05,150 for costs and expenses. (The judgment is available only in English.)<\/span><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0Principal facts<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The applicants are five Russian nationals and all members of the same family: Rumani Gekhayeva, Zlikhat Dugayeva, Subani Akhyadova, Zubidat Gekhayeva and Aynet Malgasarova, born in 1947, 1950, 1965, 1971 and 1975, respectively. They live in Chechnya. Rumani Gekhayeva is the mother and Zubidat Gekhayeva and Aynet Malgasarova the sisters of Kurbika Zinabdiyeva, born in 1968. She suffered from a brain tumour and epilepsy and, due to migraines, was often confined to bed. Zlikhat Dugayeva is the mother of Aminat Dugayeva, who was born in 1988 and, at the relevant time, was in 9th<\/sup> grade at secondary school.<\/span><\/p>\n The case concerned the applicants\u2019 allegation that Kurbika Zinabdiyeva and Aminat Dugayeva disappeared following a raid by Russian servicemen on Rumani Gekhayeva\u2019s home in Ulus-Kert, a village in Chechnya.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the applicants, in the early hours of 16 May 2003 a group of 20 men wearing blue uniforms and balaclavas who spoke Russian raided the family home in Ulus-Kert. Rumani Gekhayeva was ordered to lie on the floor: her eyes, nose and mouth were wrapped up in masking tape, as were her wrists and ankles. She could not see and could barely breathe. She heard the men leave and it wasn\u2019t until later that she was freed by neighbours and Ms V., a local official. They found the house ransacked and Kurbika and Aminat gone. They have had no news of them since.<\/span><\/p>\n The applicants claimed that Kurbika and Aminat were abducted by Russian servicemen and killed. The neighbours and Ms V. testified that the servicemen had come to the village in armoured personnel carriers and UAZ all-terrain military vehicles. <\/span><\/p>\n Immediately following the disappearances, there were reports in the media about two women, suspected of terrorism, having been arrested. According to the applicants, public officials stated, during an interview on regional television, that Kurbika and Aminat had been arrested. The <\/a> Chechen newspaper Schit I Mech<\/span> also reported that two women, suspected to be recruiters of suicide bombers and involved in organising a terrorist attack in Dubrovka (Moscow), had been arrested.<\/span><\/p>\n In the years that followed, the applicants requested the authorities, both in person and in writing for assistance. Zlikhat Dugayeva, in particular, demanded that urgent steps be taken to find her daughter, Aminat, who was 15 and therefore a minor when she disappeared. The two mothers were granted victim status in June and July 2003 but had no access to the case file concerning the investigation into the disappearances and were only informed of the adjournments and reopenings of those proceedings.<\/span><\/p>\n The Government denied that Russian servicemen were responsible for the disappearances and submitted that the two women had been kidnapped by unidentified armed men. Although the authorities initially refused to bring criminal proceedings as they considered that the women had been arrested, on 7 June 2003 a criminal investigation was launched. Furthermore, on 20\u00a0May 2004 a decision was issued which, finding that the investigation had not been comprehensive enough, requested that Ms V. be questioned, that the sources of the report in Schit I Mech<\/span> be identified and that it be clarified whether Aminat and Kurbika had been involved in terrorism. <\/span><\/p>\n
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\nGEKHAYEVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n