Information Note on the Court’s case-law 12
November 1999
Syrkin v. Russia (dec.) - 44125/98
Decision 25.11.1999 [Section IV]
Article 13
Effective remedy
Effectiveness of investigation into disappearance of serviceman abroad: inadmissible
The applicant’s son was serving in a Soviet military unit in Germany. In 1991 he disappeared just after having told his parents that he was coming back home on leave. As he failed to return to the military base at the end of his leave, the military authorities started an investigation. The applicant was informed that the German authorities had been requested to assist them in finding his son. In 1993, the applicant went to his son’s military base, where he was able to consult his case-file and discuss the matter with the authorities in charge of the investigation. He maintained that his son was probably kept in a German hospital but was later told that the German authorities had searched both civil and military hospitals without success. Search requests were sent to the German, Polish, Belarus, and Ukrainian authorities in 1993, and to Interpol offices in twelve European countries in 1998. The investigation, which is still going on, has been suspended by the authorities on several occasions since 1991.
Inadmissible under Article 13 in conjunction with Article 5: Where relatives of a person have an arguable claim that the latter has disappeared at the hands of the authorities, the notion of an effective remedy requires a thorough and effective investigation capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible and including effective access for the relatives to the investigative procedure. In the instant case, the military unit in which the applicant’s son was serving when he disappeared was stationed in Germany. Faced with the difficulties of conducting a search in a foreign country, the authorities sought international assistance. Moreover, the authorities gave adequate consideration to the applicant’s version of his son’s possible whereabouts and allowed him to consult the material gathered in the course of the investigation. Despite the fact that the investigation has not led to any positive results and has been suspended several times, the authorities, overall, could not be considered to have failed in their duty to take the appropriate steps to help its progress: manifestly ill-founded.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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