Malcolm Hawkes: Chechnya needs precedent at the European Court in StrasbourgTimur Aliyev, North Caucasus – Chechnya is in need of a precedent to be set at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, said Malcolm Hawkes, legal expert of the International Helsinki Federation. He spoke at the “Legal Protection of Individual Rights in the Russian Federation” round table in Nazran on May 8, in which representatives of Chechen human rights and civic organizations took part.
If the court in Strasbourg hears at least one of the suits filed by the Chechens, it will then be possible for them to bypass Russian courts and go directly to the ECHR, stated Hawkes.
According to him, this would demonstrate that the Russian legal system is incapable of defending its own citizens. “Today Chechnya needs a precedent similar to the one set earlier for Kurdish refugees.”
In the Kurdish case, Françoise Hampson, a leading expert in the field of international humanitarian law, obtained judgements in 20 cases in the course of five years. Turkey, however, refused to accept the ECHR decisions and was heavily fined; Hawkes contends that, today, Russia would be unable to pay such a huge sum.
The human rights defenders who attended the round table conference consider direct access to the ECHR to be of vital importance for the citizens of Chechnya.
According to Natalya Estemirova of the Russian human rights group Memorial, Russian courts more often than not refuse to accept petitions. But in order to avoid lawsuits, these denials are not put in writing.
Estemirova cited the case of Alaudi Sadykov, a Chechen citizen, “who complained about being beaten and his property stolen by the Khanty-Mansiysk special OMON police force in 2000. The court rejected his complaint and so he had to shrewdly file it by mail.”
The International Helsinki Federation has records from 1998, when Russia joined the court, of 13,000 applications filed in the ECHR by citizens of the Russian Federation. Yet only about five percent have been declared admissible.
According to Memorial, Chechens have filed 150 applications, of which 33 cases have been registered and legal proceedings have begun for 6 of them. (D/,ET) |
