The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia responsible for the execution-style murder of a Chechen human rights activist and her family. The court ordered Russia to pay 85,000 euros (£57,000) in damages to the relatives of Zura Bitiyeva.
Masked men wearing camouflage gear driving in an unmarked car stormed into Bitiyeva’s house at dawn on May 21, 2003 in her family home in Kalinovskaya, north of Grozny, when the village was under a military curfew. The gunmen put a tape on Bityeva’s mouth and bound her hands before shooting her in the face. Her husband, brother and son were also shot in the back of the head. Only Bityeva’s daughter and another son survived after hiding behind an armchair. The Strasbourg-based court said that indications showed that the killings were carried out by state agents. It said the descriptions of the way the assailants were dressed, their vehicles and the fact that they moved unhindered during curfew hours confirmed this claim. Russia has three months to appeal.
The Russian human rights group Memorial had said that Bitiyeva’s killing was because of her role in revealing atrocities committed by Russian troops in war-torn Chechnya.
RUSSIA CONVICTED IN CHECHNYA KILLINGS
The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia responsible for the execution-style murder of a Chechen human rights activist and her family. The court ordered Russia to pay 85,000 euros (£57,000) in damages to the relatives of Zura Bitiyeva.
