The European Court said more than 100 complaints were still being investigated for suitability but that six had been deemed worthy of a hearing.

STRASBOURG, January 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) –  Two days after the Human Rights Watch described Russia's war in Chechnya as Europe's most intense human rights crisis, the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday, January 16, agreed for the first time to hear lawsuits filed by Chechens accusing the Russian army of executions, torture and human rights violations in Chechnya.

The landmark announcement paves the way for six Chechen plaintiffs to plead the case that Moscow violated their rights in Chechnya, where Russian forces have been battling independence seekers for years, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

On Tuesday, January 16, the human rights watch-dog reported arbitrary detentions, disappearing civilians, sexual abuse at the hands of Russian troops and refugee camp closures.

A registrar for the court, Roderick Liddell, said that more than 100 complaints were still being investigated for suitability but that six had been deemed worthy of a hearing in the Strasbourg court.

Human rights groups have regularly accused Russian forces of numerous rights violations in Chechnya, where tens of thousands of people have been killed.

Two plaintiffs assert that members of their family were tortured and summarily executed by Russian soldiers in the Chechen capital of Grozny in January 2000.

Three are filing lawsuit over the "indiscriminate of civilians fleeing Grozny" in October 1999.

The sixth charges Russia with killing his son and three nieces in the bombing of Katir Yurt village in February 2000.

Lawyers for the Russian government claimed that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust all domestic avenues for addressing their complaints, but the court said Moscow's objection was "closely linked to the merits of the complaints."

Russian authorities investigated all six of the plaintiffs' cases, but none resulted in a conviction or in the identification of the responsible parties.

In Moscow, Russia's human rights ombudsman Oleg Mironov praised the Chechens for taking "the civilized path to defending rights and human interests."

However, he warned that "maybe the cases won't even get to a court," telling Moscow Echo radio that the Russian authorities would "wait for the court's decision" and pay damages if found guilty.

Exiled Russian magnate Boris Berezovsky, who recently further riled the Kremlin by providing financial assistance to Chechen envoy Akhmed Zakayev, said the court's decision "creates a real chance to start the peace process in Chechnya."

Russian troops were sent into the Caucasus republic in October 1999. There are currently an estimated 80,000 in the republic.

The European Court of Human Rights was established in 1959. It handles violations of the 1950 European convention on human rights.

Thursday's announcement came on the same day that a Moscow court began hearing lawsuits brought by victims of an October theatre hostage-taking in Moscow by Chechen fighters.

In a first such lawsuit, the victims are seeking millions of dollars for emotional and physical suffering from city authorities.

Some 800 theatre-goers were held for three days by Chechen fighters in October, and 129 of them were killed in the crisis, most from the effects of a powerful gas pumped into the theatre by Russian special troops to subdue the hostage-takers before a pre-dawn raid.

Chechnya is Europe's worst rights crisis: HRW

In its annual report for 2002, the Human Rights Watch lambasted NATO for forging closer ties with Moscow, accusing the military alliance and other international groups of turning a blind eye to what it called "continuing atrocities" committed by Russia in Chechnya.

"The most glaring lapse was the creation of the NATO-Russia Council, according Russia a special relationship notwithstanding Russian troops' ongoing serious humanitarian law violations in Chechnya," the report said, while also urging more European and U.N. involvement in the region.

It also accused the United States of failing to criticize Russia for its "abusive war" in Chechnya, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has framed as part of the U.S.-led global war on terror.

Moscow has been attempting to prove that the situation in Chechnya is under control, scheduling a constitutional referendum for March that should solidify the republic's place in the Russian Federation and is set to be followed by presidential and legislative elections.

"(Russian) forces continued to brutalize civilians in the ongoing armed conflict in Chechnya," the U.S.-based watch dog said.

Any positive steps at reform in Russia were "entirely eclipsed by continued atrocities committed in Chechnya, which remained the region's most intense human rights crisis," it said.

The group said several women had come forward with reports of sexual violence during military operations, and also gave examples of civilians who unexplainably disappeared after being detained by Russian troops.

It criticized the Russian military for its so-called clean-up operations in Chechnya, in which troops round up groups of civilians.

"During these operations, Russian troops detained numerous men, often arbitrarily, and looted civilian homes," the report said.

"Detainees routinely faced ill-treatment and torture, and many subsequently 'disappeared.'"

The report singled out the clean-up operation in the Chechen village of Stariye Atagy in March last year, during which it said Russian federal troops in unmarked cars drove off with dozens of men, 10 of whom later "disappeared".

Villagers later found seven burned bodies, but investigators failed to identify them and the 10 men have not been seen since, it said.

Human Rights Watch also criticized Chechen fighters for their attacks against Russian interests and accused them of "failing to respect the laws of war" when a Chechen team took hundreds of Moscow theatre-goers hostage.

But it also slammed Russia's involvement in the deaths of some 129 of the hostages, saying that "the government's failure to provide victims adequate medical treatment raised questions about whether it had met its obligation to minimize the loss of civilian life."

The group also said it was worried about Russia's decision to close all refugee camps in neighboring Ingushetia and urge displaced Chechens back to their war-torn republic.