Four islamist group members were killed during the military operation in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, April 29, 2005
Photo: Fedor Zemskov
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Nalchik Rebels' Bodies Burned
It became known yesterday that the bodies of 95 rebels killed during the attack on Nalchik in October 2005 were cremated almost a year ago. Their relatives found out about it when Russian authorities responded to an enquiry from the European Court for Human Rights.
Dozens of relatives of the deceased rebels gathered outside the republican prosecutor's office in Nalchik late yesterday morning. They had been trying to obtain the bodies of their dead relatives for a year and a half. “I have some bad news for you,” lawyer Larisa Dorogova, who represented their interests in court, began. When told that the bodies were cremated on June 22, 2006, one woman fainted and several others began to wail. The crowd then proceeded to the headquarters of the republic's administration to ask President Arsen Kanokov why authorities had cremated the bodies. Cremation is against the precepts of Islam. Kanokov was in Makhachkala at a conference on religious and political extremism.
About 50 of the relatives had appealed to the European Court in October and November 2005. The court decided to hear their case, Khalimat Sabanchieva and others v. Russia, on a priority schedule. Vernika Milinchuk, representative of the Russian Federation at the court, pointed out to it that the deceased were members of a group founded by Chechen field commanders and foreign citizens “for armed revolt and the execution of terrorist acts.” They bodies were cremated under the law “On Burial and Funerals.” “If it weren't for the European Court, we would never have known what happened to the bodies of our relatives,” Dorogova noted.
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All the Article in Russian as of June 07, 2007
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