Pass the bodies

The European Court of Human Rights partially satisfied the complaint about the refusal of the Russian authorities to give relatives the body of the murdered residents of the North Caucasus suspected of terrorist activities. This was reported in the press release of the ECHR. In addition, the court decided to pay four claims a total of more than 27 thousand euros on account of legal costs.

The court considered four complaints. Relatives of the applicants were suspected of terrorism and were killed during counter -terrorist operations. The authorities motivated their refusal by the provisions of Russian anti-terrorism legislation, which provides for the ban on the issuance of the bodies of the killed militants to their relatives, the press release is noted.

The court recognized Russia's violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to respect private and family life). However, he rejected the claims under Article 3 (the ban on torture and inhuman circulation) and article 13 (the right to effective legal protection). The applicants were also denied compensation, the court only compensated for expenses and costs.

On June 6, the ECHR has already admitted that Russia violates human rights, refusing to give the bodies of the dead terrorists to their relatives. The decision was made in two cases. The applicants were the first to be relatives of 55 militants who were killed during the operation after the attack on Nalchik in 2005. The second statement came from the widow and sons of the leader of the Chechen separatists Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed in the same year.

The court noted that Russia is not responsible for the death of Maskhadov and militants. In Maskhadov, it was established that the investigation of the circumstances of his death was adequate. The court also found that the authorities cannot be liable for the suffering caused to applicants with the conditions for storing the bodies of their relatives. These conditions were the result of material and technical difficulties, the decision said.

However, the Russian legislative norm prohibiting the issuance of terrorists, regardless of circumstances, was recognized as a violation. “The court fully recognized the existence of the problems that states faced as a result of terrorism, but decided that the automatic refusal to return the bodies violated the obligation of the authorities to take into account the individual circumstances of each of the dead and members of their families. In the absence of such an individual approach, this measure shifts the blame for terrorist activities from the deceased to the applicants,” the court’s decision said.

In Russia, there is a ban on the issuance of terrorists to their relatives. In 2007, the KS recognized the relevant provisions of Russian laws to be constitutional, although they contradict the norms of international humanitarian law. In Ingushetia, this ban was canceled last year by the decision of the head of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov.