From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/27/2006 3:09 PM Court due to rule on Chechen case Publication time: 27 July 2006, 11:26 The European Court of Human Rights is set to rule in the case of a Chechen man who disappeared after being detained by Russian forces in 1999. The case was brought by the mother of Khadzi-Murat Yandiyev after she saw TV footage in which a Russian officer ordered her son to be shot.
However, Russia says there was no formal order to execute Mr Yandiyev and no hard evidence that he is dead.
This is the first such case the court is hearing from the Chechen conflict.
Khadzi-Murat Yandiyev was arrested during the military campaign to regain control of the capital Grozny in 1999.
His mother, Fatima Bazorkina, filed the complaint against Russia in 2001, saying the authorities failed to adequately investigate the case.
She spent the last six years trying to find out what happened and sued the Russian government for violating the European Convention of Human Rights, alleging Russian forces killed her son.
"We are confident the ruling will be in our favour. The footage is clear," Jan ter Laak from Chechen human rights group, Stichting Russia Justice Initiative, was quoted as saying by Associated Press news agency.
Caught on camera
Television journalists were travelling with Russian forces who captured a group of rebel fighters sheltering in a village.
Mr Yandiyev, dressed in camouflage, can be seen in the footage standing injured near a bus.
He is questioned by a Russian general who eventually shouts: "Take him away, finishing him off, shoot him, damn it."
Mr Yandiyev was then led away and has not been seen since.
The general who was seen on camera sending him off to be shot has since been promoted and awarded a Hero of Russia medal.
This case could set an important precedent for the 200 or so other similar claims which are waiting to be heard, the BBC's Emma Simpson in Moscow says.
Human rights campaigners estimate that as many as 5,000 people have disappeared, feared dead since 1999 when the second Chechen conflict began.
Story about this case: Video
Last update: Press release issued by the Registrar CHAMBER JUDGMENT BAZORKINA v. RUSSIA
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Source: BBC http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/07/27/5099.shtml
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