"I don't like it. I prefer to see our problems, including the burning issues of Chechnya, settled within this country, rather than in Strasbourg," he noted.
However, Russia has joined the European human rights convention, and there is no way to settle certain problems at home, so it will have to reckon with the European Court verdict, acknowledged the ombudsman.
As he recently made a trip to Chechnya, the republican top prosecutor's officers offered Mr. Lukin alarming figures: criminal proceedings have been launched on approximately 1,700 instances of rights abuse, but a mere fifty cases have been properly investigated.
"The situation certainly makes people indignant with the way such cases are considered. Still, I think such proceedings ought to be launched in this country. Let Russia make the European Court suffer of tedium with nothing to do!" remarked Vladimir Lukin.
Russian courts now have every chance to consider all instances of rights abused in Chechnya, though they are not efficient enough yet. "Let's work better!" called the ombudsman.
The Strasbourg-based European rights court opened hearings, Thursday last, on six Chechens vs. Russia. The plaintiffs accuse federal soldiers of crimes and misdemeanors.
All six plaintiffs, Magomed Khashiev, Rosa Akayeva, Medka Isayeva, Zina Yusupova, Libkan Bazayeva and Zara Isayeva, are Russian nationals and, current or former, Chechen residents. They are alleging themselves or their relations victimized by federal soldiers.
All the plaintiffs had appealed to Russian-based courts, and none was satisfied with the verdicts, so they turned to the European Court.
Papers supplementing the suits concern several European rights convention clauses: Clause 2, right to life; Clause 3, which bans torture and manhandling; Clause 13, right of just trial; and a clause of Protocol 1 to the convention, which concerns property protection.
