Tuesday 8 July 2008

Keeping Track of Disappearances

Last week, the European Court handed down judgments in three new disappearance cases, finding amongst others violations of the right to life: Ruslan Umarov v. Russia, Musayeva v. Russia, and Akhiyadova v. Russia. I have earlier commented that the stream of this kind of cases seems almost endless. However, there is an overview available of all decided and pending Russian disappearance cases, provided by the NGO Russian Justice Initiative, as they kindly pointed out to me. It contains an accessible search engine, overviews of facts and violations, and indicates for each case the stage in the proceedings: admissible, communicated or decided. In addition, it contains a handy interactive timeline. Recommended for Caucasus watchers and for those interested in forced disappearances cases!