Families from Chechnya awarded ₽200,000 each for unsolved murder
A court in Chechnya has partially upheld a claim by two families over the unsolved murder of their relatives in 2000. Six of the claimants were awarded 200,000 roubles each in compensation for more than 20 years of inaction. The victims were found dead after being detained by Russian troops.
In September 2000, residents of the village of Dzhalka discovered the grave of 27-year-old Adam Vagapov, 32-year-old Magomed Taimaskhanov and Sharpudi Usuev. The bodies were buried in a mined forest belt. Taimaskhanov and Vagapov were in the same pit, on which the body of a dog was placed, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch reported. Usuev's grave was 20 meters away. There were signs of torture on the bodies of all those shot, human rights activists said.
Then the prosecutor's office of the Gudermes district of Chechnya opened a criminal case on murder, the victims in it were recognized as close relatives of the deceased, including five children of Taimaskhanov, reports Kavkaz.Realii. However, already in November 2000, the investigator suspended the investigation - this decision was overturned only in August 2012. Over the past years, the investigation has been repeatedly suspended and resumed.
The Supreme Court of Chechnya found that the ineffective investigation of the murder was due to the inaction of the investigators, a decision upheld by the Third Appellate Court in Sochi. Only one of the relatives, Satsita Taymaskhanova, was denied compensation for moral damages, since she had not reported any harm caused to her in previous years due to the more than twenty-year investigation.
The murder remains unsolved. Up to 150,000 civilians were killed in the two Chechen wars, Chechen State Council leader Taus Dzhabrailov reported in 2005. Many of the cases involved deliberate attacks, kidnappings and torture by Russian troops. Chechen security forces under the control of the republic's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, are now regularly accused of such crimes.
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