Record compensation for Chechen war victims

The European Court on Human Rights has ruled that Russia must pay record compensation of almost 680,000 euros to relatives of Chechen residents who disappeared during the war in 2002.

The court in Strasbourg upheld the accusations against Russian troops who were involved in the crackdown on Chechen militants. The military were accused of unlawfully seizing ten local residents in six separate cases.

The court ruled that relatives of the disappeared have provided enough evidence to show that those missing were kidnapped by Russian military and subsequently most likely killed. According to the decision, Russia violated the European convention on human rights by using unjustified lethal force in these cases and by failing to carry out proper investigations into the crimes.

Now Russia will have to pay the relatives of the victims 677,950 euros in compensation and also cover court expenses of more than 40,000 euros. This is a record sum for a European Court on Human Rights decision against Russia.