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Strasbourg court rules Russia pay $112,000 to Chechen woman

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MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled Russia should pay 72,000 euros ($112,000) in compensation to a resident of Chechnya, whose two relatives went missing in May 2001.

The court ordered Russia pay the plaintiff in the case, Khadizhat Kaplanova, 2,000 euros in respect of pecuniary damage and 70,000 euros in respect of moral damages, a press release published on ECHR website said.

In line with the case file and eyewitness statements submitted by the plaintiff, on May 12, 2001 a group of Russian military personnel entered Kaplanova's house and took away her son Isa Kaplanov, son-in-law Ruslan Sadulayev and visiting neighbor Movsar Musitov.

Musitov, who was released the next day, stated that the other two men were taken away in a military vehicle and he never saw them again. The two men are still registered as missing.

The court said in the press release that "despite repeated requests, the Russian Government had failed to submit a copy of the investigation file opened into the disappearance of the applicant's son and son-in-law."

Russia, which is one of the most frequent defendants at the court, was also ordered to pay 8,600 euros in legal costs.

Chechnya suffered two devastating separatist wars in the 1990s-early 2000s. Thousands were killed and many more made homeless as federal troops attempted to regain control of the mountainous republic.

Earlier in the month the Council of Europe harshly criticized Russia over alleged human rights violations by security forces in Chechnya and other parts of Russia's North Caucasus, including torture and executions.

A committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) released an 'introductory memorandum' on April 16 calling the situation in the region "by far the most alarming" in all 47 Council of Europe member states, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.

In all, the ECHR has received a total of 46,700 cases against Russia over the past ten years, comprising 20% of all lawsuits submitted.

The court has made 397 rulings on Russia in the past 10 years, or 5% of the total received during the period. Currently, a total of 23,000 temporary cases are pending against Russia, around 26% of the total.

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