Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev
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Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev was a 25 year old Chechen man, who was forcibly dissappeared in February 2000 after being filmed in the company of Russian Army general ordering him taken away and shot. To this date, his body has not been found.
In 2006 Yandiyev's mother sued Russia to the European Court of Human Rights for failing to adequately investigate the case. In a landmark ruling, the Court has held Russian Federation responsible for the "disappearance" and presumed death of Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev.
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[edit] CNN footage
Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev was detained during the military siege of the Chechen capital Grozny. He had returned from Moscow, where he had been studying sociology, to fight against the Russian armed forces. What appears to be the execution order was caught on camera in the TV footage shot by CNN journalists who were travelling with Russian forces.
The Russians captured a group of wounded Chechen fighters sheltering in a hospital in the village of Alkhan-Kala after passing through a minefield. Yandiyev, dressed in a Soviet camouflage uniform, can be seen in the footage standing injured. The two men quickly get into an argument, and the officer eventually shouts: "Take him away, finish him off, shoot him, damn it!" Yandiyev was then separated from the other prisoners and has not been seen since.
The officer in the footage, then General Alexander Baranov, has not been charged with any misconduct, and is currently serving as the chief commander of the North Caucasus military district. He was also since promoted to the rank of Colonel General and awarded with a title of the Hero of the Russian Federation.
[edit] Mother's quest
According to his mother Fatima Bazorkina, her son's disappearance stemmed from a tragic misunderstanding. She said Khadzhi left university as soon as the Second Chechen War broke out in 1999 to search for his father, who he believed was besieged in Grozny but had actually left Chechnya to join Bazorkina at a relative's house in Ingushetia. Bazorkina said she never saw her son after August 1999.
Following Yandiyev’s disappearance, Bazorkina scoured the republic's mass graves and detention centers where Russian troops kept suspected fighters. After she saw the CNN footage of her son she appealed to prosecutors, who opened a criminal case in July 2001, 17 months after his disappearance. In February 2004 they closed it again, citing lack of evidence.
[edit] The European Court
This was the first "dissappearance" case the court was hearing from the Chechen conflict and it could set an important precedent for the 200 or so other similar claims which are waiting to be heard.
The ruling was posted on the Strasbourg-based court's official website. It said that a chamber of seven judges in the case Bazorkina v Russia unanimously held that:
- there had been a violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of Mr Yandiyev's disappearance
- there had been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention in respect of the failure to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances in which Mr Yandiyev disappeared
- there had been no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) in respect of the failure to protect Mr Yandiyev from ill-treatment
- there had been a violation of Article 3 in respect of Mrs Bazorkina
- there had been a violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) with regard to Mr Yandiyev's detention
- there had been a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) in respect of the violations of Mrs Bazorkina's rights under Articles 2 and 3
The court awarded Mrs Bazorkina 35,000 euros (£24,000) in damages and 12,241 euros (£8,400) for costs and expenses.
Lawyers for Yandiyev's family have said they hope the case will force Russia to crack down on thousands of disappearances which have occurred in Chechnya since the start of the Second Chechen War.
