29 July 2015, Wednesday

On 29 July 2015 RJI submitted observations to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoM) concerning execution of the judgment of the Court in Tangiyev v Russia. The submission reported on the final outcome of the applicant’s re-trial in Russia following the decision of the Russian Supreme Court of December 2013 to quash the applicant’s conviction and send his case for re-examination before the Supreme Court of Chechnya.

In its judgment in Tangiyev v Russia, the Court found violations of Article 3 and 6 of the European Convention in the context of the applicant’s criminal conviction, which was based on statements made by the applicant under torture while in detention in Chechnya in 2003. The Court also found that there had been no effective investigation by the domestic authorities into the applicant’s claims of torture.

In December 2013, following the entry into force of the judgment, RJI obtained a hearing before the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, which found that in light of the judgment of the European Court’s judgment, the applicant’s conviction should be quashed and sent back for a new examination.

A little less than a year later, the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic found the applicant guilty of the same crimes he had been charged with prior to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. This verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of Russia on 25 March 2015. In addition, throughout the duration of his re-trial, the applicant tried numerous times—unsuccessfully—to compel the authorities to investigate his allegations of torture that occurred during his original trial in 2003-2004. The applicant also made several unsuccessful attempts to force the authorities to investigate the incidents of intimidation committed against him throughout the length of his re-trial in 2014.

In the submission to the CoM, RJI reports in detail about procedural irregularities that occurred during the re-trial as well as on documented instances of intimidation against the applicant, including by one of the police officers who tortured him in 2003.

Read the full submission here.

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