EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
FIRST SECTION
CASE OF BITIYEVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Application No. 36156/04)
JUDGMENT <*>
(Strasbourg, 23.IV.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 Bitiyeva and Others 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,
Giorgio Malinverni,
George Nicolaou, judges,
and {Soren} Nielsen, Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 2 April 2009,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (No. 36156/04) 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 thirty-eight Russian nationals listed in the annexe ("the applicants") on 6 October 2004.
2. The applicants were represented by lawyers of the Stichting Russian Justice Initiative ("SRJI"), an NGO based in the Netherlands with a representative office in Moscow, Russia. The Russian Government ("the Government") were represented by Ms V. Milinchuk, the former Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights.
3. The applicants alleged, in particular, that their relatives had been unlawfully detained, ill-treated and then killed by State agents and that there had been no adequate investigation into the matter. They also claimed that they had suffered mentally on account of these events and complained of the lack of effective remedies in respect of those violations. The applicants relied on Articles 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 13 of the Convention.
4. On 28 September 2007 the President of the First Section decided to give notice of the application to the Government. It was also decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility (Article 29 § 3).
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 applicants live in the village of Duba-Yurt, the Shali District in the Chechen Republic.
A. The facts
1. Abduction of inhabitants of Duba-Yurt
(a) The applicants' account of events
i. General background
7. According to the applicants, as of early 2000 the village of Duba-Yurt in the Shali District of the Chechen Republic was under the control of the federal forces, who established an administration, a military commander's office and a police station in the village. At the period described in the statement of facts, there were federal check-points at all roads leading to and from the village.
ii. Bayali Elmurzayev
8. The first applicant was married to Mr Bayali Abdullayevich Elmurzayev, born in 1968; they were the parents of the second, third and fourth applicants.
9. At about 2 a.m. on 27 March 2004 around fifteen armed men wearing masks and uniforms burst into Bayali Elmurzayev's house at 15 Rodnikovaya Street, while a number o
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