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22 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 133 (2009)
Chechnya's Last Hope - Enforced Disappearances and the European Court of Human Rights

handle is hein.journals/hhrj22 and id is 135 raw text is: Recent Developments CHECHNYA'S LAST HOPE? ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES AND THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS INTRODUCTION: THE CONFLICT IN CHECHNYA The aftermath of the conflict between the Russian military, its local al- lies, and separatist elements in Chechnya in the Second Chechen War (1999-present) has confronted Europe with the phenomenon of enforced disappearances1 on a massive scale. Amnesty International estimates that between 3,000 and 5,000 enforced disappearances have occurred in Chechnya since the Second Chechen War commenced on August 26, 1999.2 The Russian army initiated the conflict by attacking the Chechen capital of Grozny in order to depose the separatist regime that had established defacto control of the territory following the end of the First Chechen War (1994-1996) on August 31, 1996.3 The hostilities have been marked by exceptional ferocity and frequent incidents of brutality, including a well- documented campaign of state-sponsored assassinations and enforced disap- pearances.4 Alarmingly, despite the apparent normalization of the situation in Chechnya, such incidents have not entirely ceased.5 1. See International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, G.A. Res. 61/177, U.N. Doc. A/Res/61/177 (Dec. 20, 2006) (defining enforced disappearance as the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, fol- lowed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or wherea- bouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law). 2. Precision in this area is rendered difficult due to the widespread displacement and confusion caused by the conflict. A number of NGOs have stated that the volume of cases reported may not reflect the true scale of the problem, due to victims' fears of possible reprisal by state agents. Amnesty Int'l, Russian Federation: What Justice for Chechnya's Disappeared?, Al Index EUR 46/020/2007, May 2007, available at http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/020/2007. 3. Turmoil in Russia: Russia Media Report Start of Chechnya Ground Operation, Putin 'Not Denying' Escalation (CNN television broadcast Sept. 29, 1999), http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9909/29/ russia.chechnya.03/. 4. See, e.g., Human Rights Watch, The Dirty War in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture, and Summary Executions (2001), http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya/RSCH0301.PDF. 5. See, e.g., Eur. Parliamentary Assembly, Supplementary Introductory Memorandum: Legal Remedies for Human Rights Violations in the North Caucasus, AS/Jur (2008) 21 (Apr. 11, 2008), http://assembly.coe. int/CommitteeDocs/2008/2008041 1.ajdoc2 l2008.pdf.

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