All materials are organized in chronological order.
Information from NGOs submitted to the CoM on implementation of cases in the Khashiyev and Akayeva group
Submission of 4 October 2005 by the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre on individual measures in the first five Chechen cases: Khashiyev v Russia (No. 57942/00), Akayeva v Russia (No. 57945/00); Isayeva v Russia (No. 57947/00), Yusupova v Russia (No. 57948/00), Bazayeva v Russia (No. 57949/00); Isayeva v Russia (No. 57950/00).
Submission of 2 June 2007 by Russian Justice Initiative on individual and general measures to address violations found in Bazorkina v Russia (No. 69481/01) and Estamirov v Russia (No. 60272/00). Bazorkina is the first case of disappearance from Chechnya.
Submission of 28 September 2007 by Russian Justice Initiative on individual and general measures to address violations found in Luluyev v Russia (No. 69480/01) and Imakayeva v Russia (No. 7615/02).
Submission of 28 September 2007 by Russian Justice Initiative on individual and general measures to address violations found in Chitayev and Chitayev v Russia (No. 59334/00). Chitayev is the first judgment concerning torture in Chechnya.
Submission of September 2008 by the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre and HRC “Memorial” on behalf of the applicants in the first six Chechen cases to be decided by the European Court, responding to information provided by the Russian authorities on the execution of a number of European Court judgments concerning the security forces in the Chechen Republic.
Submission of 4 May 2009 by Russian Justice Initiative on individual measures in 19 cases from the North Caucasus. This submission provides an update on post-judgment correspondence with the domestic authorities in the applicants’ cases and makes recommendations on measures needed to comply with the Court’s judgments.
Submission of 14 August 2009 by Russian Justice Initiative on general measures needed to address Convention violations in the North Caucasus. This submission makes proposals and commentary on the three areas identified for the implementation of general measures, as well as proposals for additional means of redress for the applicants, including establishing the whereabouts of the disappeared and the setting-up of a truth commission.
Submission of May 2010 by Russian Justice Initiative on individual measures in five cases (Bazorkina; Isigova; Akhmadova; Estamirov; Khadisov and Tsechoyev) concerning disappearance, extra-judicial execution, and torture in Chechnya and Ingushetia in which the involvement of the Russian military/security forces has been established with high probability. This submission gives an update on post-judgment correspondence in these five cases and poses questions on each case to the Russian authorities.
Submission of 25 August 2010 by Russian Justice Initiative on individual measures in 29 cases from the North Caucasus. This submission provides an update on post-judgment correspondence with the domestic authorities in the applicants’ cases, poses questions to the authorities and makes recommendations on measures to be adopted.
Submission of 3 November 2010 by Russian Justice Initiative on individual measures in 3 cases from the North Caucasus. This submission presents the preliminary results of RJI’s attempts to address procedural shortcomings in domestic investigations identified in judgments of the European Court of Human Rights via the procedure provided for under Article 125 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure in the following cases: Khadisov and Tsechoyev v. Russia (no. 21519/02), Rasayev and Chankayeva v. Russia (no. 38003/03), Isigova and Others v. Russia (no. 6844/02).
Submission of May 2011 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning individual measures in 22 cases from the North Caucasus. This submission provides an update on post-judgment correspondence with the domestic authorities in the applicants’ cases, poses questions to the authorities and makes recommendations on measures to be adopted.
Submission of May 2011 by Russian Justice Initiative in reply to the Russian Government’s submission to the Committee of Ministers of 19 February 2011. This submission focuses on several aspects of the Government’s submission, such as general effectiveness of investigations, general measures reported to the Committee (such as the creation of the SIU), crimes of the past, access to archives, data submitted by the Government, as well as statutes of limitation.
Joint Submission of 22 November 2011 by Russian Justice Initiative, European Human Rights Advocacy Centre, Memorial Human Rights Centre concerning the issue of statute of limitations for domestic criminal prosecutions in the Chechen cases. Statutes of limitation threaten to impede effective investigations in the majority of Khashiyev group cases because many of the crimes into which investigations are pending carry limitation periods of 10 or 15 years. However under international law, Russia has an obligation to prosecute these cases regardless of any limitation periods under national law.
Submission of 17 May 2012 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning individual measures in 10 cases. The submission covers the results of submissions made to the domestic authorities as follow-up to judgments of the European Court between February and May 2012.
Submission of September 2012 concerning the problems of amnesty legislation and statutes of limitations in implementation of the Chechen cases. In this submission an overview of domestic law is given as well as examples of cases in which amnesties and limitation periods have been applied.
Submission of April 2013 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning the effectiveness of Article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code as a remedy for investigative shortcomings in the Chechen cases. Although this submission concerns general measures, the content of applicants’ submissions in specific cases is discussed in detail, given that the submissions address many of the crucial issues such as victims’ access to case materials and individual accountability. The satisfactory resolution of these issues depends in part on the successful functioning of the Article 125 CCP complaint procedure, since it is the only domestic judicial review mechanism available in the vast majority of Khashiyev group cases to address investigative shortcomings identified by the European Court.
Submission of August 2013 by Memorial Human Rights Centre concerning the effectiveness of Article 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code in cases examined on the merits by local courts.
Submission of January 2014 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning the emerging practice of classification of case materials.
Submission of March 2014 by Russian Justice Initiative and Civic Assistance Committee concerning implementation of the Tangiyev v Russia judgment, in particular the intimidation and pressure tactics used against the applicant by members of the Federal Security Service (FSB), which pose a security threat to the applicant and his family, and raise serious doubts about the possibility of the applicant receiving a fair re-trial.
Submission of April 2014 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning implementation of the Tangiyev v Russia judgment, detailing new facts of intimidation against the applicant during his re-trial in Grozny.
Submission of July 2015 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning the final outcome of the re-trial of the applicant in Tangiyev v Russia.
Submission of 25 August 2015 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning the applicant's attempt in Israilova and others v Russia to bring the issue of domestic remedies for disappearances in the North Caucasus to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
Submission of 25 August 2015 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning the alleged establishment of the remains of the applicant's son in Israilova v Russia.
Submission of 2 September 2015 by Russian Justice Initiative in reply to the Russian Government's Action Plan of 24 July 2015 concerning the Aslakhanova judgment. This submission points out gaps in the Russian Government's submission and requests clarification on key points concerning the creation of a genetic databank for missing persons, the identification of remains, and the creation of a DNA laboratory in Chechnya.
Submission of 24 August 2016 by Russian Justice Initiative concerning the establishment of the remains of the applicant's son in Israilova v Russia and the authorities' refusal to hand over the remains for burial.
Information submitted by the Russian Government to the CoM on implementation of cases in the Khashiyev and Akayeva group
Submission of March 2006 concerning the Action Plan as regards execution by the Russian Federation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of Khashiyev and Akaeva v. Russia (Nos. 52842/00 and 52845/00), Isayeva, Yusupova and Bazayeva v. Russia (Nos. 52847/00, 52848/00 and 52849/00) and Isayeva v. Russia (No. 52850/00).
Submission of 2007 concerning 8 cases against the Russian Federation from the North Caucasus.
Submission of 19 February 2011 concerning general measures to address violations found by the ECtHR in the North Caucasus. This submission provides general information on the purported measures undertaken by the Russian authorities to address Convention violations in the Khashiyev group.
Submission of 17 November 2011 “Report on measures adopted by the Russian authorities to ensure search for missing persons and on implementation of limitation period for bringing to criminal responsibility” in the Chechen cases.
Submission of 15 May 2012 on general measures and individual measures in 13 cases including: Bazorkina, Khadisov and Tsechoyev, Isayeva, Abuyeva, Musayev and others.
Submission of September 2013 containing the Action Plan for implementation of the Aslakhanova and others v Russia judgment.
Submission of July 2014 containing an updated Action Plan for implementation of the Aslakhanova and others v Russia judgment.
Submission of July 2015 containing an updated Action Plan for implementation of the Aslakhanova and others v Russia judgment.
CoM Information Documents
CM/Inf/DH(2006)32 of 29 June 2006: Violations of the ECHR in the Chechen Republic: Russia’s compliance with the European Court’s judgments. Memorandum prepared by the Secretariat to assist the Committee of Ministers’ supervision of the execution of the judgments in three cases against the Russian Federation. This memorandum presents information submitted by the Government on measures taken to address the Court’s first three judgments on the North Caucasus and the Secretariat’s assessment, and also on the three main areas identified for as a focus for general measures.
CM/Inf/DH(2006)32 of 12 June 2007: Violations of the ECHR in the Chechen Republic: Russia’s compliance with the European Court’s judgments. Memorandum prepared by the Secretariat. This memorandum presents updates on new legislative and other reform or restructuring initiatives undertaken by the Russian authorities in response to the three main areas of focus for general measures, and the Secretariat’s further questions on the information submitted by the Government.
CM/Inf/DH(2008)33 of 11 September 2008: Actions of the security forces in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation: general measures to comply with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (First part of the revised Memorandum prepared by the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights). This memorandum addresses the three focus areas for general measures, including an examination of the new law On the Suppression of Terrorism, measures in place to prevent torture and disappearances, public scrutiny of investigations, in addition to questions regarding the effective accountability of members of the security forces for abuses committed in the course of anti-terrorist operations and the obligation to cooperate with the European Court.
CM/Inf/DH(2008)33 Addendum 28 November 2008: Actions of the security forces in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation: general measures to comply with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (Second part of the revised Memorandum prepared by the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights). This memorandum deals with two main questions: the issue of the limitation of individual rights under anti-terrorism legislation as well as compensation for victims of counter-terrorist operations.
CM/Inf/DH(2010)26 of 26 May 2010: Action of the security forces in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation: general measures to comply with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (Update of the Memorandum CM/Inf/DH(2008)33). This memorandum focuses on the setting up of the Special Investigative Unit within the Investigative Committee of the Chechen Republic, victims’ rights and public scrutiny of investigations, domestic remedies to address procedural violations during investigations.
Overview of the Court’s judgments concerning enforced disappearances in the North Caucasus: The Committee of Ministers issued a comprehensive list of European Court judgments concerning disappearances in the North Caucasus as of February 2015, which notes the main circumstances of each case and the fate of the disappeared person.
CoM Decisions
Decision of the Ministers’ Deputies, 8 June 2011. See also Annotated agenda and decisions adopted, 10 June 2011, under Khashiyev group v Russian Federation.
Decision of the Ministers' Deputies, 6 June 2012, expressing concern at the lack of results and specifically requesting clarification into the progress of the investigations in the Isayeva and Abuyeva cases.
Decision of the Ministers' Deputies, 6 March 2014.
Decision of the Ministers' Deputies, 5 June 2014, concerning implementation of the Tangiyev v Russia judgment.
Decision of the Ministers' Deputies, 25 September 2014.
CoM Resolutions
Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)292 of 2 December 2011, Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in 154 cases against the Russian Federation concerning actions of the security forces in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation. The resolution is the first to take stock of the general pace of implementation of the Chechen cases.
Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2015)45 of 15 March 2015. This resolution focuses on the lack of progress made in the search for missing persons in the Chechen Republic and urges the Russian authorities to implement the recommendations contained in the European Court's Aslakhanova judgment.
Other Materials on Implementation
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights meeting on Legal remedies for human rights violations in the North-Caucasus Region. Paper by Giorgy Matyushkin, Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights, Ministry of Justice, Moscow. Paper by Professor Philip Leach, Director, European Human Rights Advocacy Centre. On 11 September 2009, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights held a meeting on Legal remedies for human rights violations in the North Caucasus. During the meeting there was an exhange of views, in particular on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.
Open Society Justice Initiative: From Judgment to Justice, 2011. This report examines the implementation records of decisions from various regional contexts: The European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, The African System on Human and People’s Rights, and the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and presents recommendations on how to improve implementation procedures and monitoring in each regional context.
Human Rights Watch, Who Will Tell Me What Happened to My Son?, 2009. This report examines Russia’s implementation record of the Chechen judgments.
Human Rights Watch, Justice For Chechnya: The European Court of Human Rights Rules Against Russia and Making Justice Count in Chechnya: Implementation of European Court of Human Rights Rulings Against Russia: Making Justice Count in Chechnya: Implementation of European Court of Human Rights Rulings Against Russia. These brochures look at the significance of some of the most striking cases from Chechnya handed down by the European Court of Human Rights and outline the problems hindering full implementation of the Court’s judgments.
House of Lord's discussion on the implementation of ECHR judgments in regard to Chechnya - 19 July 2006
Committee of Ministers reference materials
CoM Human Rights Meetings: Public Documents
Annual Reports of the Committee of Ministers