Court blames Russia for Chechen massacre

Russia has been held responsible for the massacre of dozens of civilians in Chechnya in a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights. Seven judges, including one Russian, criticized the Kremlin in unusually severe terms after ruling unanimously in favor of relatives of 11 of the victims. It awarded the five Chechens 143,000 euros in damages and 20,000 euros in costs after finding Russian forces guilty of murder. The dead were among more than fifty people killed during a military operation in the village of Novye Aldy near Grozny, the Chechen capital, in February 2000. "The court found it established that the applicants' relatives had been killed by servicemen and that their deaths could thus be attributed to the State," the chamber declared. It condemned Russia's official investigation of the massacre as a cover-up, saying that no attempt had been made to bring the soldiers responsible to justice, despite ample evidence and witness testimony. "Despite all that, and notwithstanding the domestic and international public outcry caused by the cold-blooded execution of more than fifty civilians, almost six years after the tragic events in Novye Aldy no meaningful result whatsoever had been achieved in the task of identifying and prosecuting the individuals who had committed the crimes," the judgment said. "In the court's view, the astonishing ineffectiveness of the prosecuting authorities in this case could only be qualified as acquiescence in the events." The court found that Russia broke Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It had violated the right to life of the victims and had failed their relatives by conducting an inquiry that the court described as "wholly inadequate." It also ruled that one of the five applicants, Yusup Said-Aliyevich Musayev, 67, had suffered inhuman and degrading treatment in breach of Article 3 of the convention. He witnessed Russian troops killing seven of his relatives then was threatened and forced at gunpoint to lie on the ground.