Russia Weighs the Worth of a Life During Terror Law Suits Nick Allen

Opinion, August 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Russia Weighs the Worth of a Life During Terror Law Suits

Nick Allen

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Arab News

MOSCOW, 30 August 2003 — How much is a lost life worth in dollars and cents?

In moral terms, there’s no acceptable answer anywhere in the world. But in Russia, the question of financial compensation for bereavement and injury caused by terrorism has come under fierce debate as the civilian death toll mounts in repeated attacks. At the focus are the survivors and families of victims of last October’s Nord-Ost musical theatER siege in Moscow that claimed the lives of 129 hostage and scarred the health of many others.

They are fighting an unprecedented legal battle for recompense in a country where life has always been cheap and justice elusive.

So far Moscow courts rejected all 27 law suits heard from 65 filed by Russians and four foreign citizens who seek a total 71.5 million dollars from the municipal and federal governments. First appeals were also unsuccessful.

The one tiny victory was an out-of-court payment of 51,000 roubles ($1,683) made to a survivor whose car was shot up by commandos during the operation to free some 800 people from Chechen terrorists.

“It’s ridiculous, apparently life and health are worth nothing while metal, junk, is worth money and gets dealt with quickly,” said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Igor Trunov.

Under Russian law, injured victims and relatives of the dead may file for compensation from the authorities in the region where an attack took place. But the size of a payment is left to judges who effectively answer to those same authorities.

Most people are unable to pursue expensive court cases and settle for the standard one-time payment of so-called material assistance, receiving up to 100,000 roubles ($3,300) for a dead relative plus some modest burial expenses.

Half of this sum is awarded for serious injury. While the standard of living in Russia is low, the payments are seen as sorely inadequate — “barely enough for a decent funeral,” says Trunov, noting that often far less is paid, or nothing at all.

“Much depends on the public impact of an incident and its proximity to the capital — the less it has and the further away, the more the amount of material assistance falls.”

The Nord-Ost compensation suits claim from $350,000 dollars to $5 million for one woman who lost her husband and 13-year-old daughter. Like most of the victims, they died after inhaling sleeping gas pumped into the building to subdue the terrorists. The girl was found asphyxiated under unconscious hostages who were dumped in a pile on the street during the evacuation.

Acknowledging that these sums are large for Russia, Trunov says a settlement of around $50,000 per case would be realistic.

For comparison he cites France, where an injured survivor of a terrorist attack has the status of war casualty, receives a life pension, benefits and average annual compensation of 25,000 euros. He argues that Russian law should at least be changed to ensure that amounts for terrorism victims match those awarded to families of military personnel who are killed.

This currently averages at around $40,000 but can vary, as in the high-profile case of the Kursk submarine sinking in August 2000. Relatives of the 118 dead sailors received on average $70,000, he says.

However, the last thing the Russian authorities want are civilian precedents that open the floodgates to thousands more claims. As the first Nord-Ost suits went to court in January this year there were signs of worry from above at the implications in a country.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).