No. 50 (980) 15.07—18.07.2004

CONSEQUENCES

The state refused to pay compensation to victims of terrorist attacks in Volgodonsk and Moscow

At the beginning of 2004, the Moscow City Court delivered a verdict in the case of the terrorist attacks in Volgodonsk and Moscow: on Guryanova Street and Kashirskoye Highway. Judge Marina Komarova managed to review the multi-volume and extremely complex case in a month and a half. Needless to say, the trial was closed... But we are not talking now about whether the truth was established: who the masterminds, perpetrators, and accomplices were—although there are enough questions on that account as well. We are talking about something else—about the victims. About how the state, which unleashed the war in the Caucasus, decided to treat its victims.

It handled it very simply: it refused to pay compensation to the victims. According to the court, this should be done by the convicts Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov. They are expected to shell out more than a million rubles in compensation for material damage to the fourteen victims who filed lawsuits, and 2,800,000 rubles for moral damage (200,000 rubles to each plaintiff). To everyone except the judges, prosecutors, and officials, it is obvious: Dekkushev and Krymshamkhalov are not in a position to pay such sums. Or rather, the judges, prosecutors, and officials know very well that the people who survived the nightmare of 1999 will never receive the money that would allow them to rebuild their lives and improve their health.

The victims filed appeals. On July 8, the Supreme Court of Russia upheld the January verdict regarding these very compensations. Moreover, it refused to pay the procedural costs of those who came to the trial from Volgodonsk, stating: "no one was waiting for you here"—and explaining that the provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure on reimbursing trial participants for travel and housing expenses "is applicable only to courts of first instance."

How it was done in Volgodonsk

"Every citizen has the right to receive information about the state of their health in a form accessible to them, including information about the results of examinations, the presence of a disease... A citizen has the right to directly familiarize themselves with medical documentation reflecting the state of their health—this is a quote from the order..."

...pioneer camp and abandoned. We didn't even have a doctor. A nurse provided help: she could only give a pill or call an ambulance, which took an hour to reach us. They sent us a psychologist, but it's hard to get out of town—and the psychologist stopped coming. If we went to the city and sought medical help, we were often told that there were more serious cases, and they refused to admit us.

Vouchers were also allocated to sa... [likely sanatoriums] by phone about what was done and is being done in Volgodonsk for the benefit of the victims:
* Everything provided for by the plan has been fulfilled. Patients who have chronic diseases are on the dispensary register. Patients who received traumatic brain injuries continue to be monitored in medical institutions. There were patients who needed treatment in federal centers, cosmetic surgeries, hand prosthetics—they all received treatment.

Then suddenly says:
* You know, there are no special rehabilitation programs for victims of terrorist attacks. In order to treat them, governor's decrees are not issued.

[Right Column]

...let's compare the experience of our country (which, as the government boasts, has a giant gold and foreign exchange reserve and a constantly growing stabilization fund in the billions of dollars) with what is happening in the West.

Firstly, in many countries that have experienced terrorist acts, special insurance funds with state participation operate. A similar fund in France, for example, appeared in the 80s of the last century. And in 1990, the French parliament passed a law equating victims of terrorist attacks to victims of war. Such funds also exist in Spain and Great Britain.

...event, a life pension is assigned.

In the United States, after the well-known tragic events, the "September 11th Act" was passed. Compensations (averaging one and a half million dollars) are paid to those victims who refused to file lawsuits against the US government. But the possibility of suing the state itself, naturally, remained. Moreover, lawsuits can also be addressed to commercial structures. For example, the husband of the deceased Bonnie Smithwick demanded compensation in the amount of 50 million dollars from American Airlines and the security service of Boston airport.

...moral damage." In the opinion, "the Russian government has completely replaced the financial costs that compensated for moral and material damage, that is, 100,000 rubles to each victim."

As for the adequacy of the sums, it is enough to recall foreign practice and throw up one's hands: they say, this is not Paris or Washington. But 100,000 rubles is a mockery even from the point of view of Russian laws: this is only one-time assistance that the state is obliged to pay to victims in any case. It is necessary...

Covered by the blast...