14 May 2007, 22:07
Lawyers and human rights defenders see no reason in EC's program aimed to reduce claims from Russia
The initiative of European Commission (EC) and the Council of Europe to reduce the number of complaints arriving to the European Court for Human Rights from Russia finds no enthusiasm in Russian human rights defenders and lawyers.
"Firstly, the problem is not in illiteracy of judges, but in their unwillingness to use what they know quite well. Secondly, they are not independent in decision-making," Valentin Moiseev, Deputy Director of the "Centre to Assist International Defence," told in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Ole Salvang, Executive Director of the "Legal Initiative for Russia," thinks that the reasons of the huge flow of complaints to the European Court from Russia are in frequent violations of human rights, and in indifference of law enforcement bodies and courts to investigation of crimes.
The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has its own data about the complaints submitted to the European Court for Human Rights. According to lawyer Eleonora Davidyan, starting from 2003, the "Memorial" has processed and sent to France a total of 66 cases related to violations of human rights in North Caucasus (Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan).
Author: Alexandra Kondrasheva, CK correspondent
