Court To Consider Unprecedented Chechen Case

(RFE/RL)

November 13, 2006 -- A Moscow court will start hearings next month into an unprecedented suit filed by a group of Chechens against the Russian Defense Ministry.

According to Russian media reports, 41 residents of the village of Borozdinovksoye are asking for a total of 126 million rubles (about $4.7 million) in compensation for damages suffered during a raid by special forces more than a year ago.

The villagers say one person was killed and 11 others disappeared after the raid by the Chechen-manned Vostok Battalion. Hundreds of villagers, predominantly ethnic Avars, briefly fled to neighboring Daghestan.

A soldier has been convicted of abuse of office and given a suspended three-year sentence over the raid. But the Russian military says the killing and the abductions were carried out by militants.

The first court hearing will reportedly be held on December 18.

("Kommersant," Ekho Moskvy, newsru.com, Interfax, ITAR-TASS)