03 August 2016, 06:21
ECtHR receives 16 new complaints in case of attack on Nalchik
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has received complaints from five persons, sentenced to life imprisonment, and from other eleven persons, sentenced to various terms of imprisonment in the case of the attack on Nalchik. Earlier, 11 complaints have been field to the ECtHR. Prisoners complain of torture, violation of the right to freedom, and unfair trials. Relatives and lawyers of the prisoners hope for accelerated consideration of the complaints, since some prisoners were diagnosed with serious deceases.
On October 13, 2005, during the attack on Nalchik, in total 35 law enforcers and servicemen, 14 civilians and 92 attackers were killed. The trial was running since 2008. On December 23, 2014, the Supreme Court (SC) of Kabardino-Balkaria sentenced five defendants in the case of the attack on Nalchik to life imprisonment, three others were released considering the term of imprisonment already served by them, and the rest were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, from 9 to 23 years of imprisonment.
The interests of the applicants at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are represented by the "Legal Initiative" in Russia. The human rights defenders point out that during the preliminary investigation into the case, a lot of evidence has been obtained under torture.
"They sought not only to force people to incriminate themselves, but also to defame other suspects... At trials, the defendants and their representatives have repeatedly pointed out to logical contradictions of evidences got by torture. The defendants complained about torture in the first instance courts and courts of appeal. They confirmed their arguments with medical reports, showed photos and videos with obvious signs of severe beatings, and unsuccessfully tried to get the investigations into the cases of torture. Many of them have exhausted all the available domestic remedies and filed complaints to the ECtHR. And the European Court has already communicated some of those complaints," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Olga Gnezdilova, the legal director of the "Legal Initiative".
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Tatiana Gantimurova Source: CK correspondent
