The ECHR case of Arzu Akhmadova and Others v. Russia (application no 13670\/03).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
..<\/span><\/p>\n \n \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n CASE OF ARZU AKHMADOVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (Application no. 13670\/03)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n JUDGMENT<\/span><\/p>\n STRASBOURG<\/span><\/p>\n 8 January 2009<\/span><\/p>\n This judgment will become final in the circumstances set out in Article\u00a044 \u00a7\u00a02 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In the case of Arzu Akhmadova and Others v. Russia,<\/span><\/p>\n The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:<\/span><\/p>\n Christos Rozakis, President, Having deliberated in private on 4 December 2008,<\/span><\/p>\n Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:<\/span><\/p>\n PROCEDURE<\/span><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0The case originated in an application (no. 13670\/03) against the Russian Federation lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (\u201cthe Convention\u201d) by eleven Russian nationals, listed below (\u201cthe applicants\u201d), on 4 September 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0The applicants, who had been granted legal aid, were represented by lawyers of the Stichting Russian Justice Initiative (\u201cSRJI\u201d), an NGO based in the Netherlands with a representative office in Russia. The Russian Government (\u201cthe Government\u201d) were represented by Mr\u00a0P.\u00a0Laptev and Ms\u00a0V. Milinchuk<\/span><\/span>, former Representatives of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights.<\/span><\/p>\n 3.\u00a0\u00a0The applicants alleged, in particular, that their close relatives had disappeared after their abduction by State servicemen.<\/span><\/p>\n 4.\u00a0\u00a0On 15 September 2005 the President of the Chamber decided to grant priority to the present application (Rule 41).<\/span><\/p>\n 5.\u00a0\u00a0By a decision of 10 January 2008, the Court declared the application partly admissible.<\/span><\/p>\n 6.\u00a0\u00a0The applicants and the Government each filed further written observations (Rule 59 \u00a7 1). The Chamber having decided, after consulting the parties, that no hearing on the merits was required (Rule 59 \u00a7 3 in fine<\/span>), the parties replied in writing to each other’s observations.<\/span><\/p>\n THE FACTS<\/span><\/p>\n I.\u00a0\u00a0THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE<\/span><\/p>\n 7.\u00a0\u00a0The applicants are:<\/span><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Arzu Abdulazimovna Akhmadova, born in 1949;<\/span><\/p>\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Taisa Amadovna Kanayeva, born in 1962;<\/span><\/p>\n 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Sharfudin Saydkhasanovich Sambiyev, born in 1955;<\/span><\/p>\n 4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Akhmat Khuseynovich Chagayev, born in 1952;<\/span><\/p>\n 5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Kiisa Ibragimovna Minazova, born in 1957;<\/span><\/p>\n 6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Salman Alaudinovich Magomadov, born in 1951;<\/span><\/p>\n 7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Khasan Izuyevich Isambayev, born in 1953;<\/span><\/p>\n 8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Zara Khabibullayevna Magomadova, born in 1979;<\/span><\/p>\n 9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Luiza Magomedovna Mugayeva, born in 1966;<\/span><\/p>\n 10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Ira Ilyinichna Dzuchkayeva, born in 1940;<\/span><\/p>\n 11.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms Razet Zakayeva, born in 1939.<\/span><\/p>\n 8.\u00a0\u00a0They live in Staryye Atagi, the Chechen Republic.<\/span><\/p>\n A.\u00a0Apprehension of the applicants’ relatives<\/span><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0 The applicants’ account<\/span><\/p>\n (a)\u00a0\u00a0Sweeping operation in Stariye Atagi<\/span><\/p>\n 9.\u00a0\u00a0According to the applicants, from 6 to 11 March 2002 federal military officers, acting under the command of General Borisov, conducted a sweeping operation (\u0437\u0430\u0447\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043a\u0430<\/span>) involving around 10,000 servicemen, 50\u00a0armoured personnel carriers (\u201cAPCs\u201d) and several military helicopters in the village of Stariye Atagi. General Moltenskiy, the commander of the United Group Alignment (UGA) in the Northern Caucasus (\u043a\u043e\u043c\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0443\u044e\u0449\u0438\u0439 \u041e\u0431\u044a\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0439 \u0433\u0440\u0443\u043f\u043f\u043e\u0439 \u0432\u043e\u0439\u0441\u043a \u043d\u0430 \u0421\u0435\u0432\u0435\u0440\u043d\u043e\u043c \u041a\u0430\u0432\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0435<\/span>) visited the village twice during the operation.<\/span><\/p>\n 10.\u00a0\u00a0Throughout the said period the military besieged Stariye Atagi and restricted freedom of movement in the village. They organised a filtering point at the poultry yard and the mill at the outskirts of Stariye Atagi where they held residents detained during the operation.<\/span><\/p>\n 11.\u00a0\u00a0In total fifteen men residing in Stariye Atagi were apprehended between 6 and 11 March 2002. Whilst some of them were subsequently released, eleven residents disappeared. The applicants are relatives of nine of those who disappeared.<\/span><\/p>\n (b)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Aslan Akhmadov and Mr Said-Selim Kanayev<\/span><\/p>\n 12.\u00a0\u00a0The first applicant is the mother of Mr Aslan Akhmadov, born in 1979, who was a student at Grozny University. They and other relatives lived at 261 Nuradilova Street and were neighbours of the second applicant, who resided with her nephew, Mr Said-Selim Kanayev, born in 1983, and other family members at 9 Polevaya Street.<\/span><\/p>\n 13.\u00a0\u00a0On 6 March 2002, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Mr Aslan Akhmadov, Mr\u00a0Said-Selim Kanayev and several other residents of Stariye Atagi were standing in the street when a group of masked and armed federal servicemen arrived in three APCs, two UAZ cars and an Ural vehicle. The APCs’ hull numbers were covered with mud and the vehicles’ registration plates were wrapped in a rag. The servicemen started beating Mr Aslan Akhmadov and Mr Said-Selim Kanayev without any explanation. Several women, including Mr Aslan Akhmadov’s seventy-five-year-old grandmother, attempted to intervene, but the military threw smoke bombs and fired in front of the women’s feet and above their heads.<\/span><\/p>\n 14.\u00a0\u00a0According to the first applicant, while she was at home she heard women and children screaming and rushed into the street. She saw her son and Mr\u00a0Said-Selim Kanayev on their knees with their hands behind their heads. Both of them were bleeding.<\/span><\/p>\n 15.\u00a0\u00a0Then the military escorted Mr Aslan Akhmadov and Mr Said-Selim Kanayev to their houses. Without introducing themselves or producing any documents to justify their actions, the servicemen searched the houses and the courtyards. The first applicant inquired about the charges against her son, whereupon one of the soldiers replied that they were servicemen of the 405th<\/sup> regiment stationed in the village of Khatuni and had an order \u201cto take away everyone they met on their way\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n 16.\u00a0\u00a0According to the first and second applicants, the military promised to release Mr Aslan Akhmadov and Mr Said-Selim Kanayev in exchange for money. The Akhmadov family gave them 200 US dollars (USD), which Aslan Amkhadov’s grandmother had been saving for her funeral. One of the servicemen took the money and said into his radio transmitter: \u201cPlus I have their son and money\u201d. The Kanayev family gave them USD 300. Having received the money, the military nevertheless took Mr Aslan Akhmadov and Mr Said-Selim Kanayev away \u201cfor a computer check of their identities\u201d. The first two applicants had no news of their relatives thereafter.<\/span><\/p>\n 17.\u00a0\u00a0The first and second applicants enclosed statements of eight witnesses to confirm their account of the events. Ms Kh. Kh., Ms Kh. Ch., Ms B. Ch., Ms R. S., Ms P. M. and Ms Kh. A., residents of Stariye Atagi, and Ms A. A., Mr Aslan Akhmadov’s grandmother, stated that they had witnessed the apprehension of Mr Aslan Akhmadov and Mr Said-Selim Kanayev by servicemen in the circumstances described by the applicants. Ms L. Ya. stated that on the date in question she was selling bread in the village market. At about 12.30 p.m. military vehicles approached the market. Five minutes later the first applicant had run up and said that her son had been out in one of those vehicles. Then the first applicant, Ms L. Ya. and other residents had asked the officer in charge to release him. The officer had replied that if Mr Aslan Akhmadov was innocent, they would let him go after checking the documents.<\/span><\/p>\n (c)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Amir Pokayev<\/span><\/p>\n 18.\u00a0\u00a0The third applicant is the father of Mr Amir Pokayev, born in 1982. They lived with other family members at 91 Nuradilova Street.<\/span><\/p>\n 19.\u00a0\u00a0On 6 March 2002, at around 12.30 p.m., three APCs, two UAZ cars and a UAZ armoured vehicle arrived at 91 Nuradilova Street. All the registration numbers were concealed. A group of about twenty servicemen entered the courtyard of the third applicant’s house. They were wearing masks and khaki uniforms resembling those of the Main Intelligence Department (\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u0420\u0430\u0437\u0432\u0435\u0434\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u0423\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435<\/span>) and those of the Federal Security Service (\u201cFSB\u201d, \u0424\u0435\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0430\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0421\u043b\u0443\u0436\u0431\u0430 \u0411\u0435\u0437\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/span>) and its special units such as Alfa<\/span>, Don<\/span> and others. The servicemen had short Kedr machine-guns, Stechkin pistols, machine guns fastened to their legs and switchblade knives bearing the owners’ initials.<\/span><\/p>\n 20.\u00a0\u00a0The military forced all the men of the third applicant’s family into the courtyard and checked their papers. The soldiers seized Mr Amir Pokayev’s temporary identity document and took it to one of the UAZ cars. Then they said that they would take the third applicant’s son with them so as to check his documents through a computer database. The military further stated that they would bring Mr Amir Pokayev back after the check, put him into the APC and left.<\/span><\/p>\n 21.\u00a0\u00a0While his son was being apprehended, the third applicant talked to two officers. One of them introduced himself as Oleg and promised that Mr\u00a0Amir Pokayev would be released as soon as the operation was over. According to the third applicant, he saw Oleg on TV on 9 and 12\u00a0March\u00a02002 standing next to General Moltenskiy, who was giving an interview. The other officer’s surname was Tolstykin. The third applicant also saw him on TV in the news report on the military operation in the village of Uluskert. The third applicant submitted that he was able and willing to identify those two officers.<\/span><\/p>\n 22.\u00a0\u00a0On 12 March 2002 the third applicant talked to another resident of Stariye Atagi, Mr R. D., who had been detained on 10 March 2002 and then released. The latter told the third applicant that he had been kept in the basement of the mill and had seen a note scratched on the ceiling to the effect that Mr Amir Pokayev had been held there. On his release Mr\u00a0R. D. asked a security guard about the detainees who had been held in the basement before him. The guard replied that on 9 March 2002, at around 12\u00a0noon, the military had taken them away, having told the guard that they would be releasing them.<\/span><\/p>\n 23.\u00a0\u00a0The third applicant enclosed a statement by Ms V. S., a resident of Stariye Atagi, who had witnessed Mr Amir Pokayev being apprehended by servicemen.<\/span><\/p>\n (d)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Islam Chagayev<\/span><\/p>\n 24.\u00a0\u00a0The fourth and fifth applicants are husband and wife and live at 97\u00a0Nuradilova Street. They are the parents of Mr Islam Chagayev, who was born in 1982 and developed a disability during childhood. At the material time he worked in Nazran, the capital of neighbouring Ingushetia. On 4\u00a0March 2002 he came to Stariye Atagi for several days to visit his family.<\/span><\/p>\n 25.\u00a0\u00a0On 6 March 2002, at around 1.30 p.m., the same servicemen who had detained Mr Amir Pokayev entered the Chagayev family house. They requested all the men to go outside. Then the military took Mr Islam Chagayev’s documents and escorted him into the street. The fourth applicant’s sister attempted to obstruct the detention of Mr Islam Chagayev, but the soldiers explained to her that she should not be afraid and that if her nephew was innocent he would soon be released. The military officers then put Mr Islam Chagayev into an APC, which left in the direction of the mill.<\/span><\/p>\n 26.\u00a0\u00a0Later that day the servicemen returned and searched the house. The next day, after throwing the Chagayev family’s belongings around and breaking them, they conducted another search.<\/span><\/p>\n 27.\u00a0\u00a0The fourth and fifth applicants submitted that one of the officers in charge of the operation was the acting commander Zdanovich. They enclosed statements of Ms L. Ch., Mr Islam Chagayev’s aunt, and Ms Z. U., a resident of Stariye Atagi who had witnessed Mr Islam Chagayev being apprehended by servicemen and confirmed the applicants’ account of the events. Ms V. S. (see paragraph 23 above) also submitted that she had seen Mr Islam Chagayev being taken away by servicemen in the above-described circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n (e)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Ibragim Magomadov<\/span><\/p>\n 28.\u00a0\u00a0The sixth applicant is the father of Mr Ibragim Magomadov, born in 1982, who was a student at the Economics and Management College.<\/span><\/p>\n 29.\u00a0\u00a0On 8 March 2002, in the afternoon, a group of federal servicemen wearing camouflage uniforms forcibly entered the Magomadov family house at 19 Beregovaya Street. The sixth applicant, his wife and Mr Ibragim Magomadov were at home at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n 30.\u00a0\u00a0The servicemen did not introduce themselves or present any documents authorising their actions and ordered the sixth applicant, his wife and Mr\u00a0Ibragim Magomadov to raise their hands and step outside. Then they subjected each member of the Magomadov family to a body search and checked their identity documents.<\/span><\/p>\n 31.\u00a0\u00a0One of the servicemen said into his radio transmitter that there were two men in the house, an old one and a young one. In reply he was ordered to take away the young one. According to the sixth applicant, the officer was around 25\u201332 years old and of Slavic appearance. Then another serviceman escorted Mr Ibragim Magomadov, who was wearing black jeans, a jeans shirt, a sports vest and shoes with thick soles, into the street and put him into an APC. This soldier was of Ossetian origin and about 19\u00a0years old. The sixth applicant submitted that he was able and willing to identify those two servicemen.<\/span><\/p>\n 32.\u00a0\u00a0The sixth applicant and his wife tried to obstruct the detention of their son, but the military officers threatened them with their firearms. One of the servicemen injured his wife, who had attempted to follow the servicemen and her son. Later that day the military returned to the sixth applicant’s house. They were drunk and laughed in reply to the sixth applicant’s questions about his son.<\/span><\/p>\n (f)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Magomed Isambayev<\/span><\/p>\n 33.\u00a0\u00a0The seventh applicant is the father of Mr Magomed Isambayev, born in 1981.<\/span><\/p>\n 34.\u00a0\u00a0On 9 March 2002, at 8.30 a.m., about ten servicemen wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with machine guns entered the house of the Isambayev family at 53 Ambulatornaya Street. The seventh applicant, his wife and their six children, including Mr Magomed Isambayev and the seventh applicant’s brother, were inside at the time. Some of the servicemen were masked and none of them had shoulder stripes or any other marks of distinction. According to the seventh applicant, they spoke Russian without an accent.<\/span><\/p>\n 35.\u00a0\u00a0The servicemen did not produce any documents justifying their actions or give any explanations. They woke Mr Magomed Isambayev up and ordered him to show them his identity documents. He explained that he had turned twenty last December and had not yet received the new passport that was due at that age. The servicemen then took the seventh applicant’s son with them, having reassured the other members of the Isambayev family that they would release him as soon as they had found out whether he was a local resident.<\/span><\/p>\n 36.\u00a0\u00a0The seventh applicant and his wife attempted to follow Mr\u00a0Magomed Isambayev, but the military did not allow them to leave the courtyard. The seventh applicant’s wife managed to see through the fence that the servicemen then visited three neighbouring houses and took her son to the courtyard of each of those houses. One of the neighbours, a police officer, told the servicemen that he had known Mr Magomed Isambayev since the latter’s childhood and that he had never been involved in any offence. It appears that the soldiers ignored this statement.<\/span><\/p>\n 37.\u00a0\u00a0Thereafter two armoured UAZ vehicles and a car resembling an ambulance arrived. Their registration plates were either painted over or wrapped in a rag. The servicemen put the seventh applicant’s son into one of the vehicles and left.<\/span><\/p>\n (g)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Adlan Baysarov<\/span><\/p>\n 38.\u00a0\u00a0The eighth applicant is the wife of Mr Adlan Baysarov, born in 1972, and the mother of their two minor children. At the material time Mr\u00a0Adlan Baysarov, a resident of Grozny and a student at the Economics and Management College, was living in Stariye Atagi as an internally displaced person. The Baysarov family lived with their relatives, including the ninth applicant, who was the wife of Mr Adlan Baysarov’s cousin, in the premises of an abandoned hospital in Pochtovaya Street.<\/span><\/p>\n 39.\u00a0\u00a0On 10 March 2002 the federal military officers arrived at Pochtovaya Street in three APCs and an UAZ car with tinted windows and entered the house in which Mr Adlan Baysarov and his relatives lived. The soldiers were wearing camouflage uniform and had helmets, portable radio transmitters and sawn-off machine guns. The ninth applicant believed that they represented special task forces.<\/span><\/p>\n 40.\u00a0\u00a0The servicemen searched the house and forced Mr Adlan Baysarov to go outside for a check of his identity documents. The ninth applicant saw two or three servicemen talking to Mr Adlan Baysarov. They intimidated and threatened him, swearing at him. Then they put Mr Adlan Baysarov into an APC, which left an hour and a half later.<\/span><\/p>\n 41.\u00a0\u00a0The ninth applicant submitted that she was able and ready to identify two officers who had apprehended Mr Adlan Baysarov. One of them had a moustache. She also submitted that on 11 March 2002 Mr G., the head of the administration of Stariye Atagi (\u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0435\u0434\u0430\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c \u0441\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0442\u0430<\/span>), who, according to the ninth applicant, had witnessed the events, had stated that the surname of one of those officers was Suvorov.<\/span><\/p>\n (h)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Timur Khadzhayev<\/span><\/p>\n 42.\u00a0\u00a0The tenth applicant is the mother of Mr Timur Khadzhayev, born in 1976.<\/span><\/p>\n 43.\u00a0\u00a0On 10 March 2002, in the morning, a group of armed federal servicemen entered the courtyard of the tenth applicant’s house at 16\u00a0Shkolnaya Street. The tenth applicant, her other son, his wife and their three children, the tenth applicant’s daughter and Mr Timur Khadzhayev were in the house.<\/span><\/p>\n 44.\u00a0\u00a0The military officers refused to introduce themselves and ordered the Khadzhayev men to step out into the courtyard for an identity check. The latter complied and produced their documents. The tenth applicant also furnished the military officers with a medical certificate confirming that Mr\u00a0Timur Khadzhayev had a disability dating from his childhood which consisted in an impaired ability to move his left arm. The servicemen took the certificate as well as the Khadzhayev brothers’ identity documents. According to the tenth applicant, some of the servicemen were masked and they were mostly young, apart from the officer who checked the documents, who was middle-aged.<\/span><\/p>\n 45.\u00a0\u00a0After the check the military escorted the tenth applicant’s sons to the courtyard of one of the neighbouring houses and ordered them to get undressed. The soldiers searched the Khadzhayev brothers and beat them. The tenth applicant screamed, asking the military why they were beating her sons. In reply, the servicemen ordered her to keep quiet, threatening to blow up her house. Thereafter they took the tenth applicant’s sons and two men who lived in the neighbouring house away. The tenth applicant referred to the account given by her neighbours, who stated that the Khadzhayev brothers were put into an APC. Some time later that day the tenth applicant’s other son returned home. He had been beaten. Mr Timur Khadzhayev has been missing since that day.<\/span><\/p>\n 46.\u00a0\u00a0During the detention of her sons the tenth applicant managed to talk to an officer who introduced himself as \u201cZhigan\u201d and told her that he could be found in the military commander’s office (\u0432\u043e\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0430\u044f \u043a\u043e\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0434\u0430\u0442\u0443\u0440\u0430<\/span>). After the sweeping operation was over, the tenth applicant visited the military commander’s office and inquired after \u201cZhigan\u201d. She was told that he had already left and that he was a FSB officer.<\/span><\/p>\n 47.\u00a0\u00a0The tenth applicant’s account of the events is supported by statements of Ms B. E. and Ms L. M., residents of Stariye Atagi, who had witnessed Mr\u00a0Timur Khadzhayev being beaten and apprehended by servicemen.<\/span><\/p>\n (i)\u00a0\u00a0Detention of Mr Abdul-Naser Zakayev<\/span><\/p>\n 48.\u00a0\u00a0The eleventh applicant is the mother of Mr Abdul-Naser Zakayev, born in 1965. They both lived at 14 Uchitelskaya Street.<\/span><\/p>\n 49.\u00a0\u00a0On 10 March 2002, at around 3 p.m., Mr Abdul-Naser Zakayev was standing in the street when federal servicemen arrived in two APCs and an UAZ vehicle with tinted windows. The APCs hull numbers were smudged and the UAZ car had no registration plates.<\/span><\/p>\n 50.\u00a0\u00a0When the eleventh applicant’s son saw the military approaching, he entered the courtyard of one of the neighbouring houses. The servicemen followed him. They were wearing camouflage uniforms of the armed forces of Russia and had firearms. They spoke Russian. Some of the military had portable radio transmitters. Without introducing themselves or producing any documents to justify their actions, the servicemen threatened to use their firearms and ordered Mr Abdul-Naser Zakayev and two other men who lived in that house to raise their hands and stand against the wall. The soldiers subjected the three men to a body search and checked their passports. Then they took Mr Abdul-Naser Zakayev away \u201cfor a computer check of his identity\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n 51.\u00a0\u00a0The eleventh applicant enclosed a statement by Mr R. M., one of the two men whose documents had been checked together with Mr Abdul-Naser Zakayev’s, to support her account of the events.<\/span><\/p>\n (j)\u00a0\u00a0Other incidents in Stariye Atagi during the sweeping operation of 6-10\u00a0March 2002<\/span><\/p>\n 52.\u00a0\u00a0On 6 March 2002 federal servicemen also detained two other residents of Stariye Atagi \u2013 Mr Ismail Dzhamayev, born in 1981 (see Dzhamayeva and Others v. Russia<\/span>, no. 43170\/04) and Mr Imran Kuntayev, born in 1976 \u2013 who subsequently disappeared. The disappearance of these two people does not form part of the present application.<\/span><\/p>\n 53.\u00a0\u00a0On 7 March 2002 the residents of Stariye Atagi found five bodies in an abandoned house at 81 Nagornaya Street, on the outskirts of the village. According to the eyewitness statements, the house was burnt but there were no bullet holes or shell marks on the walls. The bodies were severely burnt, and only one of them was identified \u2013 as Mr Imran Kuntayev. It was impossible to identify the other corpses.<\/span><\/p>\n 54.\u00a0\u00a0According to the ninth applicant, on 9 March 2002 federal military officers seized a red VAZ 21099 car belonging to a resident of Stariye Atagi. The servicemen hitched the car, which was parked in the vicinity of the poultry yard, to an APC and towed it away.<\/span><\/p>\n 55.\u00a0\u00a0The next day the villagers found the vehicle outside Stariye Atagi. It was burnt and flattened. There were three bodies inside. They had been burnt to a degree that made it impossible to identify them. The applicants submitted photographs of the destroyed car with the burnt bodies in it.<\/span><\/p>\n 56.\u00a0\u00a0Before the operation was over, the federal military officers forced the council of elders and the head of administration of Stariye Atagi to sign a declaration to the effect that there had been no incidents during the operation.<\/span><\/p>\n 57.\u00a0\u00a0On 13 March 2002, when the restrictions were lifted, the villagers brought all the unidentified corpses to Grozny. It appears that they did not manage to contact the authorities, and later that day they returned the bodies to Stariye Atagi.<\/span><\/p>\n 58.\u00a0\u00a0On 14 or 15 March 2002 officers of the Grozny district office of the Interior (\u0420\u041e\u0412\u0414 \u0413\u0440\u043e\u0437\u043d\u0435\u043d\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0440\u0430\u0439\u043e\u043d\u0430<\/span>) took the corpses to the village of Tolstoy-Yurt intending to send them on to Mozdok for a forensic examination.<\/span><\/p>\n 59.\u00a0\u00a0On 1 April 2002 D., an investigator from the Prosecutor’s Office of the Chechen Republic, delivered the bodies back to Stariye Atagi. The corpses were wrapped in bags and were decomposed. They remained unidentified. D. explained to the villagers that the prosecutor’s office had insufficient funds to conduct the forensic examination of the corpses and that the refrigerators in the forensic examination department in which they had been kept had been out of order.<\/span><\/p>\n 60.\u00a0\u00a0On 3 April 2002 the residents of Stariye Atagi buried the unidentified bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0The Government’s account<\/span><\/p>\n 61.\u00a0\u00a0The Government confirmed that a sweeping operation had been conducted in the village of Stariye Atagi from 6 to 13 March 2002. The aim of the operation had been to find and arrest members of illegal armed groups who had abducted and killed four servicemen of the FSB on 12\u00a0February 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n 62.\u00a0\u00a0On 7 March 2002, at around 2 p.m., a fight broke out between members of the illegal armed groups and federal servicemen in a house at 81 Nagornaya Street. As a result of the use of small arms and grenade dispensers, four members of the illegal armed group were killed. As the house was set on fire, bodies were severely burnt; after an inspection by law-enforcement officers they were handed over to the local administration for burial.<\/span><\/p>\n 63.\u00a0\u00a0On 9 March 2002 a group of servicemen was fired at from a car that was driving along the road between Grozny and Shatoy within three kilometres of Stariye Atagi. The servicemen fired back. The car was set on fire and the three members of illegal armed groups in it were killed. Their bodies were also severely burnt and handed over to the local administration for burial.<\/span><\/p>\n 64.\u00a0\u00a0After the operation had been completed, village residents lodged applications concerning the apprehension and subsequent disappearance of eleven residents of Stariye Atagi, including nine relatives of the present applicants.<\/span><\/p>\n B.\u00a0The applicants’ search for their relatives<\/span><\/p>\n 65.\u00a0\u00a0Immediately after their family members had been apprehended, the applicants started searching for them. Before the end of the sweeping operation, the search was mostly conducted by women since it was dangerous for men to be seen in the village.<\/span><\/p>\n 66.\u00a0\u00a0Between 6 and 11 March 2002 the mothers and other women from the families of the apprehended persons repeatedly went to the poultry yard and the mill and inquired after their relatives. One of the servicemen confirmed that all the detained persons were being kept in the mill.<\/span><\/p>\n 67.\u00a0\u00a0On 9 March 2002, in reply to a query by Said-Selim Kanyaev’s relatives, an officer of the rank of general, who introduced himself as Nikolay Artemovich (in the applicants’ opinion, General N.A. Kolbaskin), stated that he had delivered all the detainees to the police and the FSB.<\/span><\/p>\n 68.\u00a0\u00a0On 11 March 2002 a representative of the federal military stated, in the presence of Mr G., the head of the village administration, that all the detainees had been taken to the village of Tolstoy-Yurt.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span> Anatoly Kovler,
\n<\/span> Elisabeth Steiner,
\n<\/span> Khanlar Hajiyev,
\n<\/span> Dean Spielmann,
\n<\/span> Sverre Erik Jebens,
\n<\/span> Giorgio Malinverni, judges,
\n<\/span>and S\u00f8ren Nielsen, Section Registrar<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/p>\n