COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS SECRETARIAT / SECRÉTARIAT COMITÉ DES MINISTRES SECRETARIAT OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS CONSEIL DE l.'.EUROPE SECRÉTARIAT DU COMITÉ DES MINISTRES Contact: Zoe Bryanston-Cross Tel: 03.90.21.59.62 Date: 10/11/2020 DH-DD(2020)1005 Documents distributed at the request of a Representative shall be under the sole responsibility of the said Representative, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. Meeting: 1390th meeting (December 2020) (DH) Item reference: Action Plan (09/11/2020) Communication from Russia concerning the case of KHASHIYEV and AKAYEVA v. Russia (Application No. 57942/00) * * * * * * * * * * * Les documents distribués à la demande d’un/e Représentant/e le sont sous la seule responsabilité dudit/de ladite Représentant/e, sans préjuger de la position juridique ou politique du Comité des Ministres. Réunion : 1390e réunion (décembre 2020) (DH) Référence du point : Plan d’action (09/11/2020) Communication de la Russie concernant l’affaire KHACHIEV et AKAIEVA c. Russie (requête n° 57942/00) (anglais uniquement) DH-DD(2020)1005: Communication from the Russian Federation. Documents distributed at the request of a Representative shall be under the sole responsibility of the said Representative, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. DGI Prepared for the 1390th CMCE meeting 09 NOV. 2020 SERVICE DE L’EXECUTION DES ARRETS DE LA CEDH ACTION PLAN ,., l" the Russian Authorities on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the Khashiyev group of cases {within the context of the time-table for the future examination of specific aspects of this group of cases in 2020). Violation In its judgments in the Khashiyev group of cases, the European Court of Human Rights ("the Court") found violation of Articles 2, 3, 5, and 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("the Convention") and Article 1 of the Protocol No. 1 to the Convention by the Authorities of the Russian Federation in view of violations of citizen's rights during the counter-terrorism operation in the Chechen Republic and failure to ensure the effective investigation into the violations. The Russian authorities have previously repeatedly informed the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ("the CMCE") of individual and general measures taken, including those provided for by Action Plans DH-DD(2011)130, DH-DD(2011)977, DH-DD(2012)488 part 1, DH-DD(2012)757, DH-DD(2013)935, DH-DD(2014)1 l 17, DH­ DD(2015)257, DH-DD(2015)773, DH-DD(2016)556, DH-DD(2016)1208, DH-DD(2017)163, DH-DD(2017)185, DH-DD(2017)190 and DH-DD(2017)197, DH­ DD(2018)80, DH-DD(2018)798, DH-DD(2019)494, DH-DD(2020)340 and DH­ DD(2020)390. This Action Plan concems the issues related to ensuring effectiveness of investigation of criminal cases involving the events that took place in the period from 1999 to 2006. This Action Plan has been prepared taking into account the recommendations stated in the CMCE decision of20 September 2018 (Cm/Del/Dec(2018)1324/18). 1. As previously reported in detail, the Russian Authorities have developed and consistently implement the Strategy for the execution of the judgments of the Court in the Khashiyev group of cases ("the Strategy") on the basis of the analysis of the Court's judgments in the Khashiyev group of cases, including conclusions and recommendations set out in the case of Aslakhanova and Others v. Russia ("Aslakhanova"), as well as the CMCE recommendations outlined in decisions and resolutions of the CMCE. In light of the legal positions stated in the Court's judgment in case no. 16664/07 Abakarova v. Russia (case "Abakarova") the necessary adjustments were made to the activities of the competent state authorities for implementation of this Strategy, and a new impetus was given thereto. An important element of the developed Strategy that is being currently implemented is ensuring effective investigation into criminal cases involving the events that took place between 1999 and 2006, i.e. the so called "historical investigations". DH-DD(2020)1005: Communication from the Russian Federation. Documents distributed at the request of a Representative shall be under the sole responsibility of the said Representative, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. 2 2. It is reminded that from 2001 to 2008, in connection with the events in the Chechen Republic, the Russian courts examined and delivered judgments of convictions in about 600 criminal cases, within the framework of which murders, robberies, criminal negligence, authority abuse and other offences committed in the Republic were investigated. More than 500 members of illegal armed groups and about 200 members of armed forces, police officers and other representatives of state and local authorities were convicted. Effective investigation into a number of cases allowed citizens to bring, within criminal and civil legal proceedings, claims for compensation of pecuniary and non­ pecuniary damage which were satisfied subsequently. Under the said criminal cases, affected persons were recognized as victims with providing the rights envisaged by the criminal procedure legislation to them. Thus, relating to the Khashiyev group of cases, it cornes to a certain group of remaining so called "historical cases", conceming violation of rights of citizens in the Chechen Republic in the period of the counter-terrorism operation conducted in the 2000s. During the investigations of the respective cases about 100 corpses of the applicants' relatives were found and identified; in the majority of cases, the corpses were handed over to the relatives for burial. Within the framework of execution of the European Court' s judgments, adequate measures were taken to ensure investigation in a number of cases, which received a positive assessment in the decisions of the Committee of Ministers and the supervision of the respective cases by the CMCE was discontinued (documents CM/Del/Dec(2018) 1324/18 and CM/Del/Dec(2016) 1273/H46-25). 3. It is also recalled that as of the present moment, the Russian Authorities, within the framework of the aforementioned Strategy of execution of the Court's judgments in the Khashiyev group of cases, have created the necessary legal and organisational mechanisms that have allowed to implement a number of important measures. In particular, serious reforms have been conducted in the sphere of statutory legal regulation and practical approaches to investigation. This category of cases is investigated by a fully independent authority - the Investigative Committee, divisions of which coordinate their activities with other law enforcement bodies. After the Court's judgment was delivered, proceedings in all the criminal cases that had become the subject of its examination were resumed. Important elements of the investigation included implementation of a set of measures for ensuring protection of victims' rights, for creation of an operant mechanism of search for missing persons, creation of a database of such persons, as well as a unified genomic information database, equipping of expert institutions, etc. These measures were positively assessed in the CMCE decisions including the decision of20 September 2018 (Cm/Del/Dec(2018)1324/18). 4. During the reporting period the authorities took a number of additional measures to ensure effective investigation in the examined Khashiyev group of cases and to ascertain the fate of the missing persons. DH-DD(2020)1005: Communication from the Russian Federation. Documents distributed at the request of a Representative shall be under the sole responsibility of the said Representative, without prejudice to the legal or political position of the Committee of Ministers. 3 4.1. Information about investigations in the particular cases, which became the subject of examination by the Court in its judgments in the Khashiyev group of cases, is provided in the Table attached. This Table contains the information on the status of investigation, including on reasons for termination and suspension of the criminal proceedings, or for refusai to institute the criminal proceedings, and the information about notification of the applicants and/or their representatives of the investigation results, and/or provision of copies of the relevant case files. As follows from the Table, in the respective period it did not appear possible to establish all the circumstances of the events that had taken place and the fate of the m1ssmg persons. 4.2. It is noted that successful completion of the investigations was impeded by objective difficulties because, as noted above, the subject of examination by the Court and, later, of the supervision by the CMCE, were the "historical cases" related to violation of citizens' rights in the period of the counter-terrorism operations conducted in early 2000s, i.e. about 20 years ago. Among the main reasons why complete investigation of such cases and full establishment of the circumstances of the events and the perpetrators have not been achieved yet are: conducting the initial investigation in the period of the armed conflict when a significant part of the territory of the Chechen Republic was controlled by illegal armed groups and many state institutions were not functioning; irrecoverable loss of the most important evidence including materials for conducting of expert examinations and archive documents as a result of military hostilities, commission of terrorist acts, explosions and tires; rotation of military servicemen that was taking place, their use of documents; categorical refusais of the killed persons' relatives, due to their national traditions, to allow exhumation of corpses for conducting expert examinations, etc. In many cases, as established by the Court, violations were indeed committed at the initial stage, but it no longer appears possible to eliminate them.