Malcolm Hawkes: Chechnya needs precedent at the European Court in Strasbourg
Timur 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.