RUSSIA: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found Russia liable for the death of a Chechen man whose execution order was taped by a TV news journalist.
The Strasbourg-based court ruled yesterday that Russia had violated the right to life of Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev (25), who has not been seen since he was interrogated by a Russian officer in February 2000. The interrogation was videotaped by a journalist working for Russian independent television and CNN and later shown on TV.
At the end of the interview Col Gen Alexander Baranov, who did the questioning, told Russian federal soldiers to "finish off" and "shoot" Mr Yandiyev. Mr Baranov has since been promoted and awarded a Hero of Russia medal by the state.
The court found that in the absence of any plausible explanation submitted by the Russian government or any grounds in respect of the use of lethal force, liability was attributable to Russia. It also noted that an investigation by Russian authorities was plagued by inexplicable delays, and as late as December 2000 they had denied the involvement of Russian federal servicemen in the apprehension of Mr Yandiyev.
Mr Yandiyev's mother, Fatima Sergeyevna Bazorkina, took the case to the ECHR after seeing the news footage. It is the first of hundreds of human rights cases waiting to be heard from the Chechen conflict.
Mr Yandiyev was arrested near the village of Alkhan-Kala in the military campaign undertaken by the Russians to regain control of the Chechen capital, Grozny. He had returned to Chechnya from Moscow in 1999, where he was studying sociology.
The court awarded Ms Bazorkina €35,000 compensation and €12,241 costs.
"This is a landmark judgment with major importance for the hundreds of other Chechen disappearance cases still pending before the court," said Ole Solvang, executive director of independent rights group Russian Justice Initiative, in a statement released in Moscow.