01/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling of 24 February in Strasbourg, the European Court of Human Rights observed two violations of the European Convention of Human Rights by Russia in Chechnya. In this affair, the Court observed that the Russian Federation had not ensured sufficient protection of human life. The use of “free fall sulphur air bombs” is being questioned “whose range of destruction is more than 1000 meters. The absence of an effective investigation into civilian deaths is also being questioned. As well as compensation to victims, this ruling means that Russian is liable to a wave of other investigations at the European Court and it should lead it to reflect on a change of its behaviour in Chechnya.