The Leninsky district court of Grozny has partially sustained Ayzan Amsadova’s claim for compensation of moral damage incurred by unlawful actions of the Military Prosecutor’s Office. The court has awarded Ms. Amsadova 15 000 rubles to be paid by the Federal Treasury Administration in Chechnya.

   You may remember that the Chechen representation of the Committee is engaged in a public investigation under Ms. Amsadova’s application upon the fact of her relatives’ death. The Military Prosecutor’s Office many times issued unlawful refusals to open criminal proceedings in course of the official investigation which were appealed against and cancelled. Although there are grounds to open a criminal case, it is still not started due to unlawful and untimely actions of the authorities. The moral damage incurred to Ms. Amsadova by unidentified Russian servicemen is aggravated by the moral damage incurred by the Military Prosecutor’s Office that instead of contributing to the redress of her rights also violated them by an ineffective investigation.

   Lawyers of the Committee Against Torture find this decision highly important for the creation of relevant case law in Chechnya. This judgment has shown that Chechen citizens can go to court to claim compensation of damage incurred not just by the crime itself, but also by the negligent attitude of the authorities to the investigation of crimes.