http://mosnews.com/news/2007/01/20/humanruling.shtml
European HR Court Rules Russian Military Guilty of Torturing Chechens Created: 20.01.2007 11:20 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:19 MSK MosNews The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that the Russian military tortured two Chechen brothers when they were held in detention in 2000, the first such conviction against Russian forces, The Reuters news agency reports. Adam and Arbi Chitayev said they were beaten with full water bottles and rubber truncheons, almost strangled with adhesive tape and gas masks, had set dogs on them and their skin torn with pliers during about six months of detention. They said they believed they had survived only because of an article written by Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and human rights campaigner who was shot dead last year, and thanks to help from a human rights group. The Strasbourg-based court said in a ruling: "It (the court) has found above that the authorities tortured the applicants and failed to provide a prompt and public investigation." It awarded each brother 35,000 euros ($45,280) compensation. Human rights groups have long accused Russian forces of abuses in Chechnya, where a second separatist war has been under way since 1999, but Thursday's ruling was the first torture conviction against Russian forces. Russia denies using torture in Chechnya. It can appeal against the ruling. Russian soldiers detained the brothers in April 2000. They endured a week of beating at a local police station before guards drove them to the military-run Chernokozovo detention centre in Chechnya. Under duress, the brothers signed confessions to working with Chechen rebels fighting Russian forces, but Arbi Chitayev said they had no rebel links. "The conditions there were very tough," Arbi Chitayev, 41, told Reuters by telephone from Germany where he now lives. "I think it's possible to compare conditions with fascist camps during the Second World War or with conditions at (late Soviet dictator Josef) Stalin's Gulags (Siberian prison camps)." He said he and his brother had not seen Russian guards kill anyone but they were asked to carry bodies out to waiting trucks. A few days after Politkovskaya's newspaper article, the two brothers were released ---- six months after their initial detention. They were also helped by Memorial, a group of human rights lawyers who document kidnap and torture cases by both sides in Chechnya. "It was Anna Politkovskaya who had my story. There was an article in a newspaper about my brother and myself," Arbi Chitayev said. "Politkovskaya's interference and the Memorial people were the only thing that saved us." He said he had suffered from headaches and kidney problems after leaving Chernokozovo and had been scarred for life on his head and body. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
