The ECHR ordered Russia to pay 123 thousand euros to the relatives of two abducted in Makhachkala

The European Court of Human Rights ordered the Russian authorities to pay the relatives of two people abducted in Makhachkala in 2012 120 thousand euros in compensation and another three thousand euros to cover costs. This was reported by the online publication “Caucasian Knot”.

The applicants in the case were the father of Makhachkala resident Sirazhudin Aliyev, Nizamudin Aliyev, and the wife of Makhachkala resident Gazimagomed Abdulaev, Madina Gadzhieva. On January 21, 2012, in the center of Makhachkala, Aliyev and Abdulaev were stopped by armed people in the uniform of traffic police officers. Having forcibly pulled them out of the car, they handcuffed them and took them away separately in an unknown direction.

According to the applicants, Aliyev and Abdulaev were kidnapped in front of numerous witnesses. The applicants indicated that their relatives were first taken to one of the city police stations and then taken to the Stavropol Territory. Their fate is still unknown. The interests of the relatives of the abducted persons were represented in the ECHR by the Russian Justice Initiative.

According to the Caucasian Knot, the Russian authorities do not dispute the circumstances of the abduction of their relatives presented by the applicants, but deny the participation of law enforcement officers in this. It is also submitted that the evidence of the witnesses produced by the applicants is unreliable. However, the ECHR concluded that the Russian security forces violated the right of Aliyev and Abdulaev to freedom, security of person and life, since they should be considered dead. The court also considered the investigation into the abduction in Russia to be improper.