EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
FIRST SECTION
CASE OF MUTSAYEVA v. RUSSIA
(Application No. 24297/05)
JUDGMENT <*>
(Strasbourg, 23.VII.2009)
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<*> This judgment will become final in the circumstances set out in Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Mutsayeva v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:
Christos Rozakis, President,
Nina {Vajic} <*>,
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<*> Здесь и далее по тексту слова на национальном языке набраны латинским шрифтом и выделены фигурными скобками.
Anatoly Kovler,
Elisabeth Steiner,
Khanlar Hajiyev,
Dean Spielmann,
Sverre Erik Jebens, judges,
and {Soren} Nielsen, Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 2 July 2009,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (No. 24297/05) against the Russian Federation lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("the Convention") by two Russian nationals, Ms Zara Mutsayeva (also known as Tepsurkayeva) and Mr Abdul-Khamit Tepsurkayev, on 9 June 2005.
2. Ms Zara Mutsayeva and Mr Abdul-Khamit Tepsurkayev were represented before the Court by lawyers of EHRAC/Memorial, a non-governmental organisation with offices in Moscow and London. Mr Abdul-Khamit Tepsurkayev died on 10 January 2006 and Ms Zara Mutsayeva ("the applicant") decided to pursue the application on behalf of herself and her disappeared son. The Russian Government ("the Government") were represented by their Agent, Mr G. Matyushkin, Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights.
3. On 1 September 2005 the Court decided to apply Rule 41 of the Rules of Court and to grant priority treatment to the application.
4. On 11 March 2008 the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.
5. The Government objected to the joint examination of the admissibility and merits of the application. Having considered the Government's objection, the Court dismissed it.
THE FACTS
I. The circumstances of the case
6. The applicant was born in 1953; she and her husband Mr Abdul-Khamit Tepsurkayev were the parents of Khizir Tepsurkayev, who was born in 1980. The applicant lives in Urus-Martan.
7. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
A. Disappearance of Khizir Tepsurkayev and subsequent events
1. The applicant's account
8. The applicant did not eyewitness the events. The description of the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Khizir Tepsurkayev is based on the witness accounts provided by the applicant, her husband, Mr A. Ruslanbek and Mr A. Alvi.
9. At about 9 a.m. on 27 August 2001 Khizir Tepsurkayev left his house in Urus-Martan to go to the Town Court, located in the centre of the town. He was supposed to meet there with the chairman of the court to discuss his future employment as a policeman and the chairman's guard. On his way to the centre, at the corner of Pervomaiskaya and Ordzhonikidzevskaya Streets, Khizir Tepsurkayev met his acquaintance A. Said-Arbi. The two men were talking when a VAZ-2107 car pulled up next to them. The driver,
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