The Council of Europe recommended that the Russian authorities implement the ECHR judgments on enforced disappearances in Chechnya
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe examined, at the request of the Memorial Human Rights Center, the execution of ECHR judgments in the group of cases "Khashiyev and Akaeva v. Russia". This group includes cases of the enforced disappearance of 668 people in Chechnya in 1999-2017.
According to Memorial, the first decisions in the case of "Khashiyev and Akaeva v. Russia" have not been implemented for more than 18 years, and the authorities continue to use the practice of enforced disappearances and delay investigations. People are kidnapped in order to fabricate criminal cases against them. They are often tortured. Sometimes, at the initiative of the Chechen authorities, enforced disappearances occur in other regions of Russia, and then the victims are transferred to Chechnya.
The authorities suspend investigations, then resume them and suspend them again: this can happen many times. This comes amid other human rights violations in the region. In particular, disagreement with the Chechen authorities can lead to imprisonment, torture, false charges and, in some cases, murder, including outside Russia.
In the new decision, the Committee of Ministers reiterated that Russia is obliged to implement the ECHR judgments, investigate disappearances and provide assistance to the families of the victims.
