Meanwhile, the official investigation conducted by the military is suspended. Perpetrators in charge of peaceful citizens’ disappearances are not yet identified and held responsible, although more than 4 years have passed since those tragic events.   

   The Grozny garrison court found the actions of the investigator, justice major Konishchev, who had refused to provide a copy of the decision to stop the preliminary investigation under the case about a “mopping up” conducted by the Vostok battalion in the village of Borozdinovskaya resulting in 11 disappearances to the Chechen representation of the Committee against Torture, unlawful.

Lawyers of the Committee against Torture continue with the public investigation of the notorious in the North Caucasus case about a massacre organized by a high-end battalion.  The official investigation is carried out negligently, investigation bodies’ representatives openly refuse to investigate into the case and breach procedural norms on a regular basis. Already in February 2009 the authorities suspended the preliminary investigation.  In spite of multiple complaints filed by the Committee against Torture representing the interests of victims’ relatives, investigator of the Joint Forces Military Investigation Directorate Konishchev ignored their lawful requests.

Therefore, specialists of the CAT went to court that found the actions of the investigator unlawful and obliged him to eliminate the errors. The Chechen representation of the Committee against Torture is going to continue working with this case and make the state restore the victims’ rights and punish those in charge of the crime.