STRASBOURG - The European Court of Human Rights Thursday ruled in favor of two Russians who sued social security authorities for failing to increase the invalidity pensions they were awarded for the radiation injuries they suffered in taking part in the cleanup of the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
Dmitry Gorokhov, 53, and Rostislav Rusyayev, 54, complained that they had not obtained the increases in their pensions awarded by a Russian court in 2001.
Many of the workers who went into the plant to clean up after the 1986 explosion had no protective equipment and suffered fatal or debilitating radiation burns.
The plant was later sealed in a concrete sarcophagus and the entire Chernobyl region has been emptied of inhabitants and left deserted.
The human rights court said the applicants had been denied timely justice, and deprived of the right to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions.
Judgments of the court are enforceable in member countries of the Council of Europe, of which Russia is one.
The court ordered Russian authorities to pay each of the defendants 900 euros (1,200 dollars) in non-pecuniary damages, for pain and loss of amenity.
03/17/2005 18:02 GMT