Rights defenders complain to ECtHR about kidnapping and torture of Chechen resident

Lawyers of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture have sent a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for the benefit of Murad Amriev, a resident of Chechnya, who claimed being kidnapped and tortured by law enforcers. The human rights defenders also seek to achieve an effective investigation at the national level.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in September 2013, Murad Amriev appealed to human rights defenders from the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) and reported that on August 25, 2013, three men forced him into a car and brought to a building of the law enforcement bodies.

According to Murad Amriev, at the building of the law enforcement bodies, he had been beaten and tortured with electric current during two days. They demanded from him to defame his older brother, living abroad. Then, they took him to his parents' place and put forward a condition that the brother should return to Chechnya. Murad has left the republic, since he feared for his life, the interregional public organization "Committee for the Prevention of Torture" reports.

The human rights defenders believe that in relation to Murad Amriev, a number of articles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has been violated, including articles stipulating the prohibition of torture and the right to legal protection.

The lawyers of the Joint Mobile Group have also reported that they repeatedly sent a complaint about the crime committed against Murad Amriev to the Regional Investigating Department of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF). However, for 13 times, the answer was a refusal to institute criminal proceedings.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.