Nalchik/Agency Caucasus – There is an ongoing legal struggle up against Russia’s Federal Interior Ministry’s practice of constructing checkpoints across North Caucasus since 1995.
Ilyas Timishev, who is from Kabardino-Balkaria, will take action and refer a case to the European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, after it was rejected in a Russian court of law.
Timishev brought a case to a court of law in Moscow, which is called Zamoskrovetski, against the construction of checkpoints because there were not constitutionally compatible with the rights of people across North Caucasus to freely travel. Timishev intended this legal case to stand up for the rights of North Caucasian people because he argued that Russia’s decision to start constructing in January 1995 checkpoints in Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia ad Kabardino-Balkaria constituted a systematic violation of their rights. Timishev said further in his argument that he had to pass through seven or eight check points when he wanted to arrive in Caharkale, capital of Chechnya, from Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, where he stayed temporarily: "I have to submit my papers to police officers or military officials every time I pass through a checkpoint. Checkpoints both violate my right to freely travel in my country and renders me a suspect."
The Interior Ministry representative said at court that the North Caucasian checkpoints did not violate the civilian rights, because such checkpoints were built in response to the criminality level of the region. In the end, the court dismissed Timishev’s case as being not evidenced sufficiently. Besides, the court said in a statement that the Interior Ministry had the right to increase controls over people for their security as well as health concerns.
Not frustrated, Timishev appealed to the high court; however, his appeal was rejected, too. Thereafter, Timishev decided to refer the case to Strasbourg, where the ECHR is located. KU/ÖZ/FT
