Zarema Gaisanova: Abducted and Murdered in Chechnya

ECtHR Rules in Case of Zarema Gaisanova, Who Disappeared without a Trace in Chechnya
Mediazona
May 12, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has issued a ruling in the case of Zarema Gaisanova, who disappeared without a trace in Chechnya, awarding her mother 60,000 euros in compensation, reports the Memorial Human Rights Centre.

Gaisanova disappeared in 2009 after a special security operation personally led by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. According to human rights activists, Gaisanova, an employee of the Danish Refugee Council, was abducted and probably murdered.

Her interests were represented at the ECtHR by the Memorial Human Rights Centre and the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC, London). In Russia, the case was handled by lawyers from the Joint Mobile Group of human rights activists in Chechnya.

The ECtHR ruled that the Russian authorities were responsible for Gaisanova’s abduction and probable death. The court found that Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment), and Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated.

Translated by the Russian Reader. Photo courtesy of Gigapica