MOSCOW, December 1 (RAPSI) – The European Court of Human Rights ordered Thursday Russia to pay 38,000 euros in damages to three victims of a 2009 shooting spree in a Moscow shopping center caused by police major Denis Yevsyukov. 

Yevsyukov, at that time the chief of the police department of Tsaritsyno district, wearing his police uniform and armed with a handgun went on a rampage killing two individuals and wounding seven others. Altogether, more than 20 people were recognized as victims of the shooting spree.

The crime sparked public outcry and resulted in dismissal of several top police officials in Moscow. In 2011, a broad reform centered around a police law was conducted.

Yevsyukov was convicted and sentenced to life in 2010 by the Moscow City court. The ruling was later upheld by the Russian Supreme Court.

Yelena Dudal, born in 1990, was among victims of the shooting spree. The wound she suffered allegedly hampered her professional career. She filed a complaint with the Moscow City Court against Russian Finance Ministry seeking 1 million rubles (about €15,000 at the present exchange rate) in non-pecuniary damages.

Irina Khrunova, Dudal’s lawyer, told RAPSI that the complaint was filed against the Finance Ministry since at the time the crime was committed Yevsyukov was a police officer. According to Russian legislation the harm caused by government officials and law enforcement officers was to be compensated from the federal budget, Khrunova said.    

Ilya Gerasimenko, born in 1990, and Luiza Salikhova, born in 1989, were two other victims seeking compensation from the Interior Ministry in Russian courts. After their complaints were dismissed they filed suits against Yevsyukov himself seeking 2.1 million rubles (€31,000) and 2 million rubles (€30,000) in damages.

In 2012, Moscow's Nagatinsky District Court granted Gerasimenko 350 thousand rubles (€5,000) in respect of his non-pecuniary damage and almost 20 thousand rubles (€300) in respect of his pecuniary damage. Salikhova could obtain a compensation amounting to 250 thousand rubles (€3,600) and 27 thousand rubles (€400) respectively. Later, the Moscow City Court dismissed an appeal concerning the amount of compensation. 

As a result, all three victims, Dudal, Gerasimenko, and Salikhova, turned to the ECHR alleging that the Russian authorities failed to guarantee their right to life set forth in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and provide adequate compensation.