ECHR Cases from the North Caucasus

On 23 February 2006 Salambek Movsayev went to Chechen-Aul with his wife and son to visit a relative. Chechen-Aul at this time remained under full control of the Russian federal forces. At about 2 p.m. the family left for Grozny when their car was stopped by two servicemen on Ordzhonikidze Street. The men dragged Salambek out of his car while another seven or eight servicemen emerged from two cars parked nearby. Salambek was forced into one of the cars. Both cars subsequently drove off in the direction of Grozny. Salambek has been missing since.

In the beginning of April 2000, the village of Shaami-Yurt came under bombardment and several villagers, including Valid Gerasiyev, took shelter in a basement. On 5 April 2000 federal forces started a special “sweeping” operation in the village. The servicemen ordered all persons from the basement to come outside to conduct an identity check. General Shamanov, who was in command of the operation, was present during the identity checks. The servicemen subsequently put Valid in a minibus and drove away. There has been no news of Valid since. Three other residents of Shaami-Yurt were also apprehended that day. One of them were later found killed, the other two are still missing.

At about 11.45 p.m. on 27 March 2004 a group of Russian servicemen arrived at the house of the Kudayev family in Grozny. The servicemen seized Magomed-Emi Kudayev and placed him in one of their cars before driving away towards Khankala. Magomed-Emi has not been seen since. His family later heard from different sources that he had been detained by servicemen from the battalion Vostok under the command of Mr. S. Ya. The official investigation however never produced any tangible results.

At about 4 a.m. on 22 November 2002 a group of Russian military servicemen burst into the Kasumov family's home in Mesker-Yurt. They violently searched the houses and threatened several family members at gunpoint before leaving with Abdul Kasumov. Abdul has not been seen or heard from since.

On 10 March 2003 at 2 a.m. a group of Russian servicemen burst into the Maayev family's home in Urus-Martan. They threatened Isa Maayev's parents, then apprehended Isa and left taking him with them. Isa is missing since.

At about noon on 20 April 2005 Ruslanbek Alikhadzhiyev’s car was stopped at the checkpoint of the Russian federal forces in the vicinity of the village of Mesker-Yurt. Eyewitnesses saw how he was subsequently detained by three servicemen and taken inside the checkpoint which was surrounded by blocks. Ruslanbek is missing since.

The facts of the case are connected to Kerimova and Others v. Russia, no. 17170/04; 20792/04; 22448/04; 23360/04; 5681/05; 5684/05, decided on 3 May 2011.

Early in the morning on 6 January 2003 a group of policemen arrested Visadi Shokkarov in the Satsita camp located in the Sunzhenskiy District, Ingushetia. Later the same day his family went to the department of the interior (the ROVD) to ask for him. There two men in civilian clothes approached Visadi's brother Visita Shokkarov and led him through the gates of the ROVD. Visita has been missing since. Visadi was charged with murder and his arrest prolonged. According to the authorities, Visadi died in a car crash on 2 February 2003. His body had been burned and carbonised after his death. His family was informed about his death nine days later. They visited the morgue where they examined the corpse and concluded that it was not Visadi. The investigations into the faiths of Visadi and Visita Shokkarov has not produced any results.

On 7 June 2006, Khamzat Tushayev was ordered to report to the prosecutor's office of the Leninskiy District in Grozny on the following day. On 8 June 2006 Khamzat and his wife went to the complex of government buildings in Grozny, the prosecutor's office being situated within its guarded grounds. At the check point an on-duty officer gave Khamzat a pass and let him in. His wife stayed outside to wait for him. Two hours later, she asked the on-duty officer to call the prosecutor's office. After a telephone conversation the officer told her that Khamzat had not entered the premises of the prosecutor's office. Khamzat has not been seen since. The investigation into his disappearance has not been meaningful.

The applicants are 27 former residents of Kogi, Chechnya, including the relatives of three women and two children who were killed during an air strike conducted in by Russian military forces in the town on 12 September 1999. Two military planes indiscriminately dropped over seventy bombs on the village, which also destroyed many houses. The Court found that the government failed in its duty to safeguard the lives of the civilians in Kogi and that the force employed was grossly disproportionate to the perceived threat from rebel fighters.

At about 3.30 a.m. on 19 November 2002 a large group of federal servicemen burst
into Ayub Murtazov's house in the village of Naurskaya. They put his wife and two young sons in one of the rooms and tied them up with adhesive tape. They then left the house taking Ayub with them. Ayub has been missing since. The family's neighbours saw several armoured personnel carriers in the village that night. However, the investigation into his disappearance has not produced any results.

On the night of 23 October 1998, a group of armed men apprehended Suleyman Tsechoyev in the settlement of Sagopshi, Ingushetia. The deputy prosecutor of Malgobek later confirmed that he was detained by state authorities and demanded 6,000 USD for his release. The family did not pay. When relatives visited him in pre-trial detention in Nalchik in March and July 1999, Suleyman stated that he had been subjected to ill-treatment. On 23 August 1999, four police officers from Malgobek produced documents requesting his transfer from Nalchik to Malgobek. Suleyman was handed over to them. On 24 August 1999, Suleyman's body was found with firearm wounds to the head. The investigation into his murder has not produced any results.

On 2 October 1999, Russian military planes attacked Urus-Martan, where the Russian
authorities had previously launched a counter-terrorism operation. One of the bombs hit
the block of flats in which Roza Kerimova lived with her family, killing her brother and
husband and wounding her and her three minor children. On 19 October 1999, the town
again came under aerial attack by Russian federal forces. The bombing resulted in the
deaths of six people and injuries to 16 people, including three of the applicants, and in
the destruction or damage of 40 houses, including those inhabited by 18 of the applicants in the case. In April 2000, the military prosecutor refused to open criminal proceedings in connection with the attacks of 2 and 19 October 1999, but in July 2000 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic instituted criminal proceedings. According to the Russian Government’s submissions, the bombing had been conducted by an “unidentified plane” and those responsible had not been established. The criminal case was suspended and reopened on a number of occasions, and the proceedings appear to be pending.

At about 2.30 a.m. on 18 March 2004 a group of armed men burst into the Khambulatov's house in the village of Saveliyevskaya. They searched the house and awakened Timur Khambulatov. He was handcuffed and put in a vehicle that drove away.  In the morning of 19 March 2004 Timur was found dead in a cell of the department of the interior of the Naurskiy District (“the Naurskiy ROVD”). His body bore numerous signs of injuries. The investigation into his arrest and death has not produced any results.

In the morning of 27 December 2002 Musa Temergeriyev was at the train station in Grozny. During his absence around twenty Russian servicemen in two armoured personnel carriers (APCs) arrived at his house and secured the entry to the courtyard; one of them tried to plant a grenade in the family's refrigerator. When Musa came home,  the servicemen checked his passport and conducted a search of the house, finding nothing. They then put Musa in one of the APCs and drove to the premises of military unit no. 3186 at the east end of Grozny. The domestic investigation established the identity of  several of the officers deployed in the military detachment that was likely involved in Musa's abduction, but the investigation failed to produce any results. Musa and Lema have not been seen since their abductions.

In the early morning of 21 August 2002 a group of Russian servicemen broke into the house where Lema Khakiyev was sleeping. Lema was ordered to follow them, half-dressed and without shoes or identity documents, and according to witnesses, was taken away in the direction of the district military commander’s office. As the servicemen departed, one of them told Lema's wife that they were from the Oktyabrskiy ROVD and that Lema would be taken there. Later the applicants observed one of the military vehicles that had been used during Lema's abduction leaving the premises of the district military commander's office. The investigation into Lema's disappearance yielded no results.

At about 2 a.m. on the night between 17 and 18 November 2002 a group of masked and armed men in camouflage uniforms, arriving on military vehicles, burst into the home of the Dudarov family in the village of Ken-Yurt. They detained Magomed Dudarov, put him in one of the vehicles and drove off. Magomed has not been seen since. The investigation into his disappearance has not yielded any results.

Between 14 and 18 February 2002 the Russian federal military carried out a special "sweeping" operation in the village of Starye Atagi. In the morning on 14 February, the three brothers Movsar, Movladi and Vakha Nasukhanov were detained in their home in Starye Atagi by federal military servicemen. On the following day, their parents learned that the Russian military had established a fïltration point near a poultry-house and a mill of Starye Atagi. Some 500 persons were kept at the fïltration point. Eventually, the military started to release the  detainees and Vakha returned home on 16 February. On 20 February, the burned remains of Movsar and Movladi were found in the village of Mesker-Yurt. The investigation into their killing has not been effective.

In the morning of 23 October 2003 at about 7 a.m. five grey UAZ vehicles arrived at the home of the Gisayev family. Around twenty or thirty masked and armed men burst inside. Several servicemen searched the house. Having examined Akhmed Gisayev's papers, they put him in one of the UAZ vehicles and drove away. After ten or fifteen minutes the vehicle stopped and Gisayev was ordered out of the vehicle. He was blindfolded and handcuffed and brought to a room where he was interrogated. When he denied involvement in any illegal activities the men beat him and attached electric wires to his hand and foot; from then on they repeatedly passed electric current through his body. They also burned him with cigarettes, beat and insulted him. The interrogations, beating, insults and electrical shocks continued, in three different locations, until 8 November when he was released after a relative paid for his release. Gisayev has since experienced major health problems. The investigation into his abduction and detention has not been efficient, it is to date unclear whether the investigation has been completed.

In the afternoon of 17 October 2000 Ali Udayev and Ramzan Yusupov were walking home from school in the outskirts of Urus-Martan. The boys were seen walking down the road between the local cemetery and a field. Shortly thereafter, Ramzan's brother saw an explosion near the cemetery. Local residents heard the sound of a flying projectile. Other witnesses saw and heard a tank of the Russian military launch a projectile. Ali's and Ramzan's dead bodies were found on the place of the explosion. The investigation into their deaths has not produced any results.