Relatives of Chechen residents missing since 2002 demand to resume inquiry

Residents of the village of Mesker-Yurt believe that the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by itself will not return their sons, brothers, and husbands, who disappeared in 2002 during a special operation carried out by soldiers. The villagers told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the government should continue the investigation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 22, the ECtHR pronounced two decisions on the claims of relatives of 16 residents of Chechnya, one of whom was killed by law enforcers and the rest disappeared in 2002 during the special operation carried out by law enforcers in the village of Mesker-Yurt in the Shali District in the period from May 21 to June 11, 2002.

"As long as there is at least a small hope that some of the disappeared people may be alive, the government should continue the investigation," Nulizhan Israilova, a resident of the village of Mesker-Yurt, commented on the ECtHR's decision.

In 2002, she lost her two sons, 21-year-old Aslan and 18-year-old Anzor.

The woman has said that after she learned of the ECtHR's decision, she at once got an idea that she might hear something new concerning her disappeared sons.

"And then I was explained that the European   Court only recognized that human rights were violated in our village and that Russia had to investigate the case of out disappeared children. That's right: the European Court will not return those who disappeared in 2002. However, as long as there is at least a little hope that some of the disappeared people may be alive, the government should continue the investigation," said Nulizhan Israilova, the mother of disappeared Aslan and Anzor Israilov.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.