Communicated on 19 June 2017

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 25809/17
Aleksey Anatolyevich NAVALNYY
against Russia
lodged on 4 April 2017

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Aleksey Anatolyevich Navalnyy, is a Russian national, who was born in 1976 and lives in Moscow. He is represented before the Court by Ms O. Mikhaylova, a lawyer practising in Moscow.

A. The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

The applicant is a political activist, opposition leader, anti-corruption campaigner and popular blogger. He is currently running an electoral campaign for the presidential elections in 2018.

On 14 March 2017 the applicant notified the Moscow Government about his intention to organise and hold a march and a gathering in the centre of Moscow on 26 March 2017. The aim of the public events was to demand investigation of corruption by higher Russian officials.

On 16 March 2017 the Regional Security and Anti-Corruption Department of Moscow informed the applicant that the march was likely to disrupt traffic and breach rights of non-participants.

On 26 March 2017 the applicant participated in a peaceful march on Tverskaya street. At 2.28 p.m. he was arrested by the police, placed in a police bus and taken to the Konkovo police station of Moscow. The applicant was accused of organisation of mass simultaneous stay and (or) movement of citizens in public places which caused breach of public order under Article 20.2.2 § 1 of the Code of Administrative offences (“CAO”). He spent the night in the police station.

On 27 March 2017 the applicant was brought to the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow. The court found him guilty of a breach of the established procedure for the organisation or conduct of public events under Article 20.2 § 1 of CAO and sentenced him to a RUB 20,000 fine. Having announced the judgment in this case, the court informed the applicant that he was also accused of failure to obey a lawful order of a police officer and that this case would be examined right away. The applicant’s requests to adjourn the hearing and provide him with adequate time to prepare for the trial, to question the eyewitnesses of his arrest and two police officers who had drawn up the reports depicting the events of 26 March 2017 was dismissed. The applicant was found guilty of breach of Article 19.3 § 1 of CAO and sentenced to administrative detention for 15 days. The district court relied mainly on the administrative arrest and administrative offence records and the police officers’ reports.

On 30 March 2017 the Moscow City Court examined the applicant’s appeal. It refused to question the eyewitnesses of the applicant’s arrest on his request and disallowed the applicant’s questions to the police officers during their examination.