The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday ruled that Russian authorities failed to conduct a proper investigation into the suicide of a soldier and awarded his mother 30,000 euros ($41,500) in damages.
In April 2001, military conscript Andrei Tikhonov was found hanging in the toilet of his unit's canteen "with numerous bruises and abrasions to his body," the court's said.
An official domestic inquiry found that depression had driven Tikhonov to commit suicide and that the bruises were sustained during the hanging process, when his body hit the toilet walls during convulsions.
Tikhonov's mother, however, said that her son had suffered multiple injuries prior to his death and that the domestic authorities' attempts to explain their causes lacked credibility.
The court found that the authorities had not conducted a proper investigation into Tikhonov's death, but said that Russia had not breached article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to life.
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