Case on torture of a convicted Chechen native resumed after verdict of ECtHR

The Presidium of the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia pronounced a decision to resume proceedings in a case of Umar Chapanov, a resident of Chechnya, sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment. Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had awarded Umar Chapanov compensation on a complaint about torture. The resident of Chechnya said that law enforcers tortured him to force him to confess to crimes.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on July 13, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights awarded compensation of 170,000 euros to four residents of Chechnya who complained that in 2002-2006, law enforcers tortured them and demanded to confess to crimes, in particular, to terrorism. According to one of the complainants, Umar Chapanov, he was detained in Shali in September 2005. With the demand to plead guilty to a robbery, law enforcers were beating him with bottles of water and stun guns, strangling him, and putting out cigarettes on his back. Moreover, according to Umar Chapanov, law enforcers threatened to rape his pregnant wife if he refused to confess to crimes.

In 2006, Umar Chapanov was sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony for attacks on residents of the republic in 2004-2005. Umar Chapanov pleaded not guilty and complained about torture by law enforcers and coercion to confession.

On June 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the laws establishing a deadline for the execution of ECtHR judgments. So, the judgements of the ECtHR issued after March 15, 2022 are not enforceable in Russia.