CEDH · CASELAW;CLIN;ENG — 6 novembre 2008

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .sD4B5322E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:justify } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA241FE93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8F2B0B1B { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .s97EB40D9 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:14pt; page-break-after:avoid } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s5F48796F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s8B6C6D43 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; border-bottom:1pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .sDF790F1E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } Information Note on the Court’s case-law 113 November 2008 Khadzhialiyev and Others v. Russia - 3013/04 Judgment 6.11.2008 [Section I] Article 3 Degrading treatment Inhuman treatment Moral suffering endured by members of a family as a result of the dismemberment and decapitation of their abducted relatives' bodies: violation Facts – The applicants were close relatives of two men who were forcibly abducted from the family home in a Chechen village by armed men in camouflage uniforms. Four days later human remains were found some ten kilometres away; the heads were missing and the bodies had been blown up by an explosive device. The remains were identified by the missing men's relatives, who recognised their distinctive hands and fingers and fragments of their clothing. The missing body parts have never been found and the investigating authorities have failed to identify those responsible for the killings. The applicants alleged, inter alia , that as a result of their relatives' abduction and killing and the State's failure to conduct a proper investigation, they had endured mental suffering in breach of Article 3 of the Convention. Law – Article 3: The Court found it established that the remains discovered four days after the abduction belonged to the missing men and that they had been kidnapped and killed by Russian servicemen. On the question whether the moral suffering endured by members of the missing men's families amounted to proscribed treatment, the Court noted that while a family member of a “disappeared person” could claim to be a victim of treatment contrary to Article 3, the same principle did not usually apply to situations where the person taken into custody had later been found dead. In the instant case, however, the missing men's corpses had been dismembered and decapitated. Their body parts, including their heads, had still not been found, so that the applicants had been unable to bury the bodies in a proper manner; this must have caused them profound and continuous anguish and distress. The moral suffering endured by the applicants had thus reached a dimension and character distinct from the emotional distress which may be regarded as inevitably caused to relatives of a victim of a serious human-rights violation. Conclusion : violation (unanimously). The Court also found violations of Article 2 (substantive and procedural limbs), Article 5, and Article 13 read in conjunction with Article 2. Article 41: EUR 3,000 in respect of pecuniary damage and EUR 50,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage to the victims' parents jointly, and EUR 1,500 in respect of pecuniary damage and EUR 20,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage to the infant son of one of the victims.   © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes