Five European Court judges of Human Rights rejected a request of the Russian Government to refer three judgments to the Grand Chamber of the Court.

On 25 February 2005 the European Court published its first judgment arising from the conflict in the Chechen Republic. The European Court found that the Russian Federation violated the applicants’ right to life and their right to an effective domestic remedy. The applicants in these cases are represented by lawyers from the London-based European Human Rights Advocacy Center (EHRAC).

Russian army forces responsible
Two cases concern the extra-judicial execution of five of the applicants’ relatives in Grozny at the end of January 2000. The bodies of the applicants’ relatives were found with numerous gunshot wounds. Three of the applications arise out of indiscriminate bombing of civilians living Grozny in October 1999. As a result of the bombing, the first applicant was wounded and her two children and daughter-in-law were killed. During this bombing the second applicant was wounded and the third applicant’s car containing her family’s possessions was destroyed. The sixth application concerns the indiscriminate bombing of the village of Katyr-Yurt on 4 February 2000. As a result of the bombing the applicant’s son and her three nieces were killed. In each case, the European Court found the Russian armed forces to be responsible and ordered the Government to pay compensation to the applicants.

The applicants underlined the fact that the investigation of their relatives’ death was non-effective in Russia: all the cases were closed and the guilty weren’t punished. After that they applied to the European Court.

As a result of this latest decision by the panel of five judges, the three judgments became final on 6 July 2005 and the Russian Government is obliged to implement them by 6 October 2005: 105 thousand euro for moral compensation, 30710 euro for material compensation, 32780 euro for Court expenses.