MOSCOW, March 14 (RAPSI) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has awarded €50,000 in compensation to Chechen militant Arsan Mukayev sentenced to life in prison for murdering members of the Russian armed forces and law enforcement officers.

The court held that rights of Mukayev, who complained of tortures by police, had been violated.

According to Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Mukayev, the member of a militant group headed by Islam Chalayev, was implicated in 13 murders committed in the Chechen Republic including the murder of Vladimir Moroz. the prosecutor of Grozny, the republic’s capital.

Mukayev was arrested in Kazakhstan in 2006 and extradited to Russia. In June 2007, The Supreme Court of Chechnya found him guilty of criminal gang activity, infringement on life of law enforcement officers, murders and robbery, ammunition trafficking, stealing weapons, intentional destruction of property, and sentenced him to life in prison. The sentence delivered with account of confessionary statements took effect in November 2007.

Mukayev in his application filed with ECHR insisted that he had confessed under tortures. He complained that he had been punched and kicked by police officers. When he refused to confess and “give statements against certain persons whom he knew personally”, officers tortured him “with electric shocks and beat him about the head with plastic bottles filled with water,” according to the applicant. The man also noted that Russian authorities declined to open a case over alleged tortures.

Mukayev claimed that Russia had violated Article 3 (prohibition on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention of Human Rights (Convention).