Willy Gjøsund Menneskerettsdomstolen i Strasbourg har kommet til at det var russiske soldater som drepte fire sivile tsjetsjenere i en landsby i Tsjetsjenia i 2003.
Kjennelsen vil neppe bedre forholdet mellom Europa og Russland.
The ruling — one of a series of recent decisions by the court against Russia in cases concerning Chechnya — found that the Russian state violated Europe’s human rights convention on four other counts.
The assailants killed Zura Sharaniyevna Bitiyeva, a political figure in Chechnya who participated in anti-war protests, along with her husband, one of their sons and her brother. The four were all shot in the head in the middle of the night by Russian-speaking men.
Bitiyeva’s daughter and another of her sons hid from the assailants behind an armchair, the court said.
The court said witness statements indicated the killings were carried out by state servicemen, based on descriptions of the way the killers were dressed, the vehicles they used, and the fact that they were able to travel unhindered during curfew hours.
The court also said witness testimony on the assailants methods of working — such as checking passports, putting hoods over detainees’ heads, and the execution style of the killings — also led it to conclude that Russian personnel were behind the slayings.
Russia has three months to appeal. Dozens of other similar cases are pending before the Strasbourg court.
