Kukayev v. Russia
Legal Relevance
Keywords: Relatives as Victims | State/Non-State Agents | Effective Remedy | Duty to Investigate | Duty to Prosecute | Reparations | Burden of Proof | Deprivation of Liberty | Evidence
Themes: Characteristics of the Crime | Related Crimes
The Court was satisfied that the victim was apprehended by State agents in the course of a special operation. In light of the fact that it was established that the victim was killed on the same date he was taken into custody, and that there was no information that he had been released shortly after being apprehended, the Court concluded that the victim died whilst being detained by federal forces, and found the State responsible for it. The Court held that, for the almost five months during which the victim remained missing before his body was found, his father suffered uncertainty, anguish and distress, aggravated by the lack of information on the investigation and by the manner in which his complaints were dealt with by the authorities. As a result, the Court found that such a period was sufficiently long to amount to inhuman treatment with respect to the victim's father.
Judgment Date
June 2, 2008
Country
Russia
Judicial Body
European Court of Human Rights
Articles violated
Article 2 (procedural) [ECHR], Article 2 (substantive) [ECHR], Article 3 [ECHR], Article 13 [ECHR], Article 38(1)(a) [ECHR]
Facts of the Case
In November 2000 Mr. Aslanbek Kukayev, an officer of the Chechen Department of the Interior, left home to report for duty at the headquarters of the Department of the Interior along with another police officer. While they were passing through the Grozny market, federal servicemen who were carrying out a special operation blocked their vehicle and took them away in the direction of the headquarters of the federal military detachment. Mr. Kukayev and several other police officers of Chechen origin detained during the operation were then put into a truck and driven to the former Educational College building. Some of the policemen were released later that day, while Mr. Kukayev disappeared. The following day, the television announced that a number of members of illegal armed groups had been apprehended during a “sweeping-up” operation. Mr. Kukayev's father started to inquire about his son and applied repeatedly to a number of authorities. A criminal investigation into the disappearance was opened in December 2000, and then suspended and resumed several times until 2006. In April 2001, two corpses bearing signs of violent death were found in the basement of the Grozny Educational College and identified as those of Mr. Kukayev and his colleague. In June 2001, a death certificate for Mr. Kukayev was issued, with date of death as of November 2000 in Grozny. Mr. Kukayev's family received compensation in connection with his death as police officer on duty.