Suffering in euros

The European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to pay Chechen resident Khanbatai Khamidov 172 thousand euros. The plaintiff proved that a unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs practically destroyed his home ownership and business: in 1999, federal troops entered the Nadterechny district of Chechnya, where the Khamidov brothers had their own bakery business: two houses, a bakery, a mill, a warehouse - all this was destroyed, and the Khamidovs families went to a refugee camp. The court found the arguments of the Russian government that the riot police were sent to Chechnya because “a situation threatening the health and well-being of the nation” had arisen and that the applicant’s house was occupied “to protect his property from robbers” was unfounded. If the decision remains in force, the compensation will be a record for claims related to Chechnya. Until now, only 350 thousand rubles are paid for the loss of property and housing in Chechnya itself.

On the same day, the European Court of Human Rights considered another lawsuit against Russia: the case of Aslanbek Kukaev, a patrol policeman killed on November 26, 2000. On November 26, Aslanbek Kukaev, together with his colleague Ruslanbek Damaev, went to work in the Central Market area. On this day, federal security forces carried out a “special operation” at the market. Kukaev and Damaev were in camouflage uniforms and had police IDs. At about 12 o'clock in the afternoon they were detained by military personnel of federal "security" structures, who publicly tore up their official documents, and they themselves were put in a truck, where there were already other detained law enforcement officers of the Chechen Republic. By the evening of the same day, all the detained Chechen policemen who were in the car returned home. Aslanbek Kukaev and his colleague, who remained at the Pedagogical Institute, did not return home.

Aslanbek's father, Khamzat Kukaev, immediately began searching for his son. He filed a complaint with the Grozny prosecutor's office (a criminal case was opened), the FSB and the city commandant's office. On April 22, 2001, employees of a mobile detachment of federal forces discovered two corpses at the entrance to the basement of the institute - an examination showed that the bodies belonged to Aslanbek Kukaev and Ruslanbek Damaev. They had gunshot wounds to the head. On May 12, the criminal case into the disappearance of Kukaev without a trace and the discovery of his corpse was transferred to the military prosecutor's office. A few days later, the military prosecutor's office returned the case to the territorial prosecutor's office, stating that the involvement of military personnel in this case had not been proven.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia violated Art. 2 of the Convention, holding it responsible for the death of Kukaev, and confirmed the violation of Article 2 by the state in terms of failure to conduct an effective investigation into his murder. The court also found a violation of Article 3 in respect of the applicant, as he had suffered shock and despair in connection with the disappearance of his son and his subsequent fruitless attempts to find out what had happened to him. Russia must compensate the applicant for non-material damage - 35 thousand euros and material damage - seven thousand euros, as well as cover the costs of representing the case in court - eight thousand euros.