The ECHR ruled to pay 20 thousand euros to the relatives of a Chechen woman who died in 2003 as a result of mortar fire

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday in the case of the death of Raisa Kosumova in 2003. According to the court, the Russian authorities did not conduct a proper investigation into the circumstances of Kosumova’s death and ordered to pay her relatives 20 thousand euros.

Human rights activists from the Committee Against Torture, who represented the interests of the victims, recall the circumstances of the case. At the beginning of June 2003, on the Dyshne-Vedeno-Kharachoy highway, a UAZ car was blown up, in which there were employees of the department of internal affairs and the prosecutor's office of the Vedeno region. Several people were injured, two died on the spot. After the explosion, those attacked requested reinforcements, and an hour later a special group arrived at the scene of the incident. She launched a mortar strike on a mountainous and wooded area where the alleged car bombers had fled. However, the strike turned out to be extremely inaccurate, and the shells hit almost the spot where the UAZ was detonated.

At this time, Raisa Kosumova was driving her GAZ-66 car from the village of Vedeno to the village of Kharachoy and came under fire. She died on the spot from her wound. Two FSB officers were also injured as a result of mortar fire.

Her relatives contacted the prosecutor's office, where they notified that a criminal case had been initiated. However, no written documents were provided to them in this regard. In fact, the investigation was not conducted for several years, which is why the relatives of the deceased appealed to the ECHR.

The court ruling said Russian authorities failed to conduct an adequate investigation into the death of Raisa Kosumova. At the same time, the ECHR was unable to establish the fact that security forces were involved in her death due to the paucity of materials in the criminal case sent by Russia to Strasbourg.