Chechnya: Human Rights Hopes Dashed
Chechens frustrated by Russian obstruction of a reform of Europe’s human rights court.
Chechnya: Human Rights Hopes Dashed
Chechens frustrated by Russian obstruction of a reform of Europe’s human rights court.
Chechnya continues to be Europe’s darkest spot when it comes to human rights, as was made clear earlier this month when the human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammerberg, told new Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov of the allegations of torture he had heard during his visit to the troubled republic.
The Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee issued a public statement on March 13 condemning the continued "resort to torture and other forms of ill-treatment" and "unlawful detentions" of civilians by security services in Chechnya.
The Council of Europe, of which Russia is a member, holds out the best hope for redress of abused rights for Chechens. They can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg – a body set up by the Council of Europe - if they believe Russia’s judiciary has failed to answer their complaints. Many have done so in the last few years, although the number is still small in comparison to the scale of the problem.
The hope of more Chechens applying to the court and getting speedier justice is now fading, as Russia is blocking ratification of a protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights which would streamline the application process.
Yakub Abdulkadyrov, chairman of Chechnya’s bar chamber, said complaints from Chechnya were often given precedence over those from elsewhere at the European Court, because of the “acuteness of the problem of rights violations in Chechnya”. However, every year the European Court looks into no more than 100 cases from Russia. “Things are developing at a snail’s pace,” said Abdulkadyrov.
Chechen lawyers and officials are now lobbying the Russian government to persuade the federal parliament, the State Duma, to drop its objections to the document – called Protocol No. 14 - which it failed to adopt in December.
The protocol would allow the court to decide more quickly whether it should look into a complaint or not, and reject an application if it considers that the applicant has not suffered significant harm.
If the protocol is adopted, a single judge instead of the present panel of three will have the discretion to dismiss a complaint, while a committee of three judges instead of seven will consider well-founded cases and take decisions on them.
All of the 46 members of the Council of Europe have now ratified the protocol except Russia, whose objection leaves the reform in limbo. Despite a declaration of support from the Russian government, and a Russian signature on the protocol in Strasbourg last May, just 27 deputies of the 450-member State Duma voted to ratify it.
Urging his colleagues to vote down the reform, deputy speaker of the Duma Sergei Baburin accused the Council of Europe of being anti-Russian. “The protocol goes against the basic principles of justice. Moreover, our substantial membership fees are being used to pay for attacks on our country by the Council of Europe,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin himself has been ambiguous about the decision, and openly critical of the European court, telling a group of Russian human rights campaigners in January, “Our country faces the politicisation of court decisions.”
Tatyana Lokshina, director of the Demos human rights centre, said the presidential administration had not given the governing United Russia party clear enough instructions about the need to ratify the protocol.
“The State Duma’s refusal to ratify the protocol has put the Kremlin in an awkward situation with regard to its European partners, and was a shock to the international community,” she said.
“The non-ratification means that the court’s efficiency – or proper examination of cases within appropriate timelines – will be undermined,” said human rights lawyer Kirill Koroteyev. “Russia is creating obstacles not only for its own citizens, but also for Romanians, French and Slovenes who are waiting to have their cases heard.”
Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis made the same point, saying, "Justice delayed is justice denied, so that I am disappointed that, following the vote in the Russian State Duma against the ratification… essential and long-overdue changes to the European Court of Human Rights must be put on hold.”
By far the largest proportion of the 80,000 complaints filed in the European Court in 2006 were from Russia, and cases from Chechnya accounted for most of them.
Every time it loses a case in Strasbourg, Russia has to pay out compensation. According to official figures, Russia’s 2006 budget had 110 million rubles (4.2 million US dollars) set aside for such compensation payments - 11 times as much as in 2003.
The European Court has hitherto upheld almost all appeals by Chechen citizens. The latest case was that of two brothers, Adam and Arbi Chitayev, who filed a allegations that they were detained and tortured in 2000 by local interior ministry officers in the town of Achkhoi-Martan.
“They were held illegally in the ORB [police Operative Investigation Bureau] for six months,” said Chechen lawyer Jabrail Abubakarov. “Their relatives knew nothing of their whereabouts.” Abubakarov said the two men had been beaten with plastic bottles filled with water that did not leave a physical mark.
“On January 18 this year - after they had been released - their case was considered [and upheld] by the European Court,” he continued. “As a result, Russia paid 35,000 euro in damages to each of the two men.”
Many Chechens and Russian activists now fear that the Duma’s refusal to ratify the protocol will build up resentment in Chechnya.
“There is already a long queue of cases waiting to be examined by the court,” said Koroteyev. “With the complaints review system as it is now, the court can process less than 20,000 cases a year, while the number of complaints it receives annually exceeds 40,000. The backlog is increasing by 20,000 cases a year.”
He said that of the more than 20,000 cases from Russia currently under consideration, around 98 per cent did not merit careful examination. Streamlining the rejection process will clearly make things faster for those cases that do stand up.
“Last year there were 100 decisions against Russia. Some of [the applicants] had been waiting for the decisions for seven years,” said Koroteyev.
Chechen lawyer Abdulkadyrov said the Russian parliament’s obstruction of the protocol was a victory for “legal nihilism”.
“There are a lot of corrupt officials [in Russia] who won’t allow democratic institutions to grow,” he said.
Asya Umarova and Laura Aldamova are correspondents of Chechenskoye Obschestvo newspaper.
The Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee issued a public statement on March 13 condemning the continued "resort to torture and other forms of ill-treatment" and "unlawful detentions" of civilians by security services in Chechnya.
The Council of Europe, of which Russia is a member, holds out the best hope for redress of abused rights for Chechens. They can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg – a body set up by the Council of Europe - if they believe Russia’s judiciary has failed to answer their complaints. Many have done so in the last few years, although the number is still small in comparison to the scale of the problem.
The hope of more Chechens applying to the court and getting speedier justice is now fading, as Russia is blocking ratification of a protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights which would streamline the application process.
Yakub Abdulkadyrov, chairman of Chechnya’s bar chamber, said complaints from Chechnya were often given precedence over those from elsewhere at the European Court, because of the “acuteness of the problem of rights violations in Chechnya”. However, every year the European Court looks into no more than 100 cases from Russia. “Things are developing at a snail’s pace,” said Abdulkadyrov.
Chechen lawyers and officials are now lobbying the Russian government to persuade the federal parliament, the State Duma, to drop its objections to the document – called Protocol No. 14 - which it failed to adopt in December.
The protocol would allow the court to decide more quickly whether it should look into a complaint or not, and reject an application if it considers that the applicant has not suffered significant harm.
If the protocol is adopted, a single judge instead of the present panel of three will have the discretion to dismiss a complaint, while a committee of three judges instead of seven will consider well-founded cases and take decisions on them.
All of the 46 members of the Council of Europe have now ratified the protocol except Russia, whose objection leaves the reform in limbo. Despite a declaration of support from the Russian government, and a Russian signature on the protocol in Strasbourg last May, just 27 deputies of the 450-member State Duma voted to ratify it.
Urging his colleagues to vote down the reform, deputy speaker of the Duma Sergei Baburin accused the Council of Europe of being anti-Russian. “The protocol goes against the basic principles of justice. Moreover, our substantial membership fees are being used to pay for attacks on our country by the Council of Europe,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin himself has been ambiguous about the decision, and openly critical of the European court, telling a group of Russian human rights campaigners in January, “Our country faces the politicisation of court decisions.”
Tatyana Lokshina, director of the Demos human rights centre, said the presidential administration had not given the governing United Russia party clear enough instructions about the need to ratify the protocol.
“The State Duma’s refusal to ratify the protocol has put the Kremlin in an awkward situation with regard to its European partners, and was a shock to the international community,” she said.
“The non-ratification means that the court’s efficiency – or proper examination of cases within appropriate timelines – will be undermined,” said human rights lawyer Kirill Koroteyev. “Russia is creating obstacles not only for its own citizens, but also for Romanians, French and Slovenes who are waiting to have their cases heard.”
Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis made the same point, saying, "Justice delayed is justice denied, so that I am disappointed that, following the vote in the Russian State Duma against the ratification… essential and long-overdue changes to the European Court of Human Rights must be put on hold.”
By far the largest proportion of the 80,000 complaints filed in the European Court in 2006 were from Russia, and cases from Chechnya accounted for most of them.
Every time it loses a case in Strasbourg, Russia has to pay out compensation. According to official figures, Russia’s 2006 budget had 110 million rubles (4.2 million US dollars) set aside for such compensation payments - 11 times as much as in 2003.
The European Court has hitherto upheld almost all appeals by Chechen citizens. The latest case was that of two brothers, Adam and Arbi Chitayev, who filed a allegations that they were detained and tortured in 2000 by local interior ministry officers in the town of Achkhoi-Martan.
“They were held illegally in the ORB [police Operative Investigation Bureau] for six months,” said Chechen lawyer Jabrail Abubakarov. “Their relatives knew nothing of their whereabouts.” Abubakarov said the two men had been beaten with plastic bottles filled with water that did not leave a physical mark.
“On January 18 this year - after they had been released - their case was considered [and upheld] by the European Court,” he continued. “As a result, Russia paid 35,000 euro in damages to each of the two men.”
Many Chechens and Russian activists now fear that the Duma’s refusal to ratify the protocol will build up resentment in Chechnya.
“There is already a long queue of cases waiting to be examined by the court,” said Koroteyev. “With the complaints review system as it is now, the court can process less than 20,000 cases a year, while the number of complaints it receives annually exceeds 40,000. The backlog is increasing by 20,000 cases a year.”
He said that of the more than 20,000 cases from Russia currently under consideration, around 98 per cent did not merit careful examination. Streamlining the rejection process will clearly make things faster for those cases that do stand up.
“Last year there were 100 decisions against Russia. Some of [the applicants] had been waiting for the decisions for seven years,” said Koroteyev.
Chechen lawyer Abdulkadyrov said the Russian parliament’s obstruction of the protocol was a victory for “legal nihilism”.
“There are a lot of corrupt officials [in Russia] who won’t allow democratic institutions to grow,” he said.
Asya Umarova and Laura Aldamova are correspondents of Chechenskoye Obschestvo newspaper.
