ÏÐÀÂÎÇÀÙÈÒÍÛÉ ÖÅÍÒÐ «ÌÅÌÎÐÈÀË»

MEMORIAL HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER

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25 September 2008

 

Press-release

 

The European Court declared Russia responsible for the death of Ruslan Mezhidov’s five relatives and awarded the applicant 100 thousand Euros

 

Today the European Court of human rights delivered its judgement on the case of Mezhidov v. Russia, where it declared that Ruslan Mezhidov’s five relatives died as a result of the shelling of a Chechen village by federal forces. For the first time the Court awarded this amount for compensation to one applicant on a Chechen case.

 

On the evening of 5 October 1999, Ruslan Mezhidov’s parents, his brother and two sisters were at home in the village of Znamenskoye, Chechen Republic. Ruslan was out at the time. He states that between 7 and 9pm five or six shells were fired on the village from a mountain range where Russian troops were stationed.  His relatives were all killed by a shell explosion in the courtyard of their home.

 

The ECtHR accepted the applicant’s argument that the large-calibre shells could only be fired from heavy artillery pieces, and that such guns were presumably in the exclusive possession of the Russian armed forces. Considering that the State apart from blankly denying it’s responsibility for the events under examination, made no meaningful attempts to contest any of the applicant’s arguments, or comment on the evidence adduced by him, the Court established that the applicant’s family members died as a result of the shelling of the village of Znamenskoye by federal artillery in violation of Article 2 of the Convention (right for life).

 

The Court established that no meaningful efforts were made to investigate the possible involvement of federal military personnel in the attack of 5 October 1999. In a situation where the effectiveness of the investigation was undermined from a very early stage by the authorities’ failure to take necessary and urgent investigative measures, where the investigation was repeatedly stayed and reopened, and where the applicant was only informed of the conduct of the investigation occasionally, the Court stated that it was highly doubtful that appealing the investigation’s actions to the courts would have had any prospects of success. Thus the Court found that the authorities failed to carry out a thorough and effective investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the applicant’s five relatives in violation of the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention.

 

The Court found that in circumstances where the criminal investigation into the death was ineffective and the effectiveness of any other remedy that may have existed, including the civil remedies, was consequently undermined, the State has failed in its obligation under Article 13 of the Convention (right for effective remedies).

 

The Court also declared the Russian Government fell short of their obligations under Article 38 § 1 (a) of the Convention (obligation to furnish all necessary facilities to the Court) on account of their failure to submit copies of the documents requested in respect of the killing of the applicant’s five relatives.

 

For non-pecuniary damage the Court awarded the applicant 100,000 EUR.

 

The Court also awarded 2,150 EUR for costs and expenses to the applicant’s representatives, the lawyers of the joint project of the Memorial Human Rights Centre and the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre.

 

For further information please contact:

Kirill Koroteev, Lawyer              +3 36 65 60 2753

Eleonora Davidyan, Lawyer       +7 495 225 31 17