Dina Vedernikova: Strasburg Court may consider Ulman's complaint

"The Court may recognize the complaint as inadmissible without giving any reasons. There have been cases when the decision on inadmissibility was sent to the applicants one year after the complaint had been filed. I received such decision after three years. There are no deadlines. But I think the complaint will not be considered inadmissible. Good lawyers have been working on it and the case is well-known," said Dina Vedernikova, lawyer of the "Memorial" human rights centre, commenting to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on the announcement by the lawyer of captain Ulman, charged with the killing of civilians in Chechnya, about filing an application to the European Court on Human Rights.

"Within one week upon receiving the complaint by the Strasburg Court, it will send a letter confirming its receipt, then the complaint will be assigned a number. After that, the case will be put on a waiting list. From my practice, only in two or three years the Court will communicate (send) the complaint to the Government of the Russian Federation for comments," explains D. Vedernikova, lawyer of the program "Protection of human rights using international mechanisms" of the  "Memorial" human rights centre.

"Quite possibly, the complaint may be recognized as a priority and will be considered by an accelerated procedure. If we look at our "Chechen" cases, a lot of them are being considered as a priority. But this is a relative and a loose term. There are no specific time limits, but, for instance, in case of a priority complaint the court is going to consider it in five years instead of ten years, as some of the Turkish cases. Some of our complaints have been recognized by the Court as a priority, but six years have already passed and, so far, we only have their decision on the admissibility of the complaint. As for the consideration of the case on its merits, two or three years more may be needed," surmises the expert.

For reference, the Ulman's lawyer has stated that he is preparing a complaint to the Strasburg Court on Human Rights in connection with the Russian Constitutional Court ruling "on Ulman's case ." In the opinion of lawyer Roman Krzhechkovski, the Constitutional Court ruling "grossly violates the right of all defendants to choose the form of court proceedings, in particular the jury court," reports "Novosti" news agency.

On April 6, 2006, the RF Constitutional Court (CC) held that, pending the introduction of jury courts in Chechnya, the cases of servicemen charged with crimes committed on the territory of the republic may not be considered by juries. The request to the RF CC was filed by the Chechen President and a number of victims in the "Ulman's case."

Captain Eduard Ulman, ensign Vladimir Voyevodin, lieutenant Alexander Kalaganskiy and major Alexei Perelevskiy are charged with murder, intentional destruction of property belonging to others and abuse of powers entailing serious consequences. According to state prosecution, in January 2002, special task force officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate (MID) detained an UAZ jeep in the vicinity of the Dai village of Shatoi district, Chechnya, in the course of a secret operation on capturing Khattab. There were six residents of Chechnya in it. The task force officers shot at the car, killed one passenger and wounded two more. The Chechens' documents proved to be in order, but, nevertheless, the remaining Chechens were shot dead and their bodies were burnt along with the jeep. The case of Ulman was heard twice by the North Caucasus military district tribunal and on both occasions the jury acquitted the defendants. The last acquittal was reversed by the Supreme Court Military Panel and the case was returned for reviewing by a new panel of judges. The hearing, however, was suspended because of the request filed in the Constitutional Court.