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Rights groups urge Russia to enforce ECHR Chechnya judgments

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Rights groups on Thursday called for Russia to enforce European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgments regarding human rights violations in Chechnya. Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Memorial Human Rights Center and Russian Justice Initiative expressed concerns that the Russian government is not acknowledging the 104 ECHR judgments condemning their refusal to properly investigate violations and their failure to hold wrong-doers accountable. The violations include extrajudicial executions, bombings, torture, and disappearances. In the court's most recent judgments, Russia was found to have violated the European Convention on Human Rights provisions regarding the right to life, required effective investigations, illegal detainment, ill-treatment and others. The ECHR has repeatedly ruled against Russia in human-rights cases involving Chechnya. In April, the ECHR ordered Russia to pay a total of €282,000 to compensate the families of Chechen abduction victims. In March, the court ordered Russia to pay €37,000 to a Russian national for the death of her husband, who was chopping wood when Russian troops killed him in 2000. In December, the court determined Russia had violated the human rights of six other Chechens who disappeared between 2001 and 2003, and ordered Russia to pay the victims' families €320,000. Also in December, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed that Russian courts become more transparent in order to restore faith in the justice system and prevent people from turning to the ECHR.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 04, 2009 (boomark / email).