Russia 'terror remains' ban kept

Relatives of some killed in October 2005 want bodies returned

Russia's top court has backed a law banning the return of the bodies of those branded terrorists or suspected of terrorism to their families.

The families of two suspected Chechen rebels killed in a 2005 special forces raid had appealed to the court, hoping to secure the return of their remains.

Correspondents say the practice echoes a Soviet custom of burying convicts without telling their families.

Russia has been accused of human rights violations in Chechnya and elsewhere.

The case was brought to the Russian constitutional court by two women whose sons were killed in the operation, in the Northern Caucasus city of Nalchik in October 2005.

The women had argued that the guilt of their sons was never proved in court and therefore that they should be presumed innocent.

In another recent case, Russian authorities are refusing to hand over the body of a man accused of being an Islamic militant shot dead in the same region.

Human Rights Watch says it doubts an official Russian version of events, in which Ruslan Adishev was accused of being the spiritual leader of an Islamic extremist organisation.

Russia's tactics in its battle against militants have frequently come in for criticism, with relatives of many of those accused of terror offences denying their guilt.

But Moscow maintains that the ban is leading to a decrease in terrorist activity, and that disclosing the burial places of terror suspects could lead to a spread of terrorist propaganda and ethnic hatred.

The European Court of Human Rights is also examining the Nalchik mothers' case.