Communicated on 20 November 2019
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 60757/12
Yekaterina Olegovna ANZINA against Russia
and 3 other applications
(see list appended)
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicants are Russian nationals. The application numbers, the dates of lodging the applications, the applicants’ names, their personal details, the names of their legal representatives, where applicable, and the particulars of the applicants’ cases and the domestic proceedings are set out in Appendix below.
The circumstances of the cases
The facts of the cases, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
The applicants have been convicted in criminal proceedings of drug‑related offences. The principal evidence against them derived from operational experiments or test purchases conducted in accordance with Section 6 of the Operational-Search Activities Act.
At their trials the applicants claimed that the offences in question were committed as a result of entrapment by the authorities. They alleged the involvement of agents provocateurs.
Three applicants (application nos. 60757/12, 53524/14, 54122/16) also alleged that they had not been able to examine in court witnesses who had testified against them.
According to Mr Chirva (application no. 29301/16), the police listened in via loudspeaker to his telephone conversation with an agent of the police, Ms O., in the course of the undercover operation.
The above complaints of the applicants were dismissed by the domestic courts. The respective judgments were issued by the judicial bodies and on the dates indicated in the Appendix below. The judgments became final.
COMPLAINTS
The applicants complain under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that they had been convicted of criminal offences which they had committed only because they had been incited to do so by an agent provocateur.
Three applicants (application nos. 60757/12, 53524/14, 54122/16) also complain under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention that they had not been able to examine in court witnesses who had testified against them.
Mr Chirva (application no. 29301/16) also complains under Article 8 of the Convention that the police listened in, via loudspeaker, on his telephone conversation with an agent of the police in the course of the undercover operation, in breach of his right to respect for private life.
COMMON QUESTION
On account of test purchases carried out by undercover agents of the police in the applicants’ cases and having regard to the judgments in the cases of Veselov and Others v. Russia (nos. 23200/10 and 2 others, 2 October 2012) and Lagutin and Others v. Russia (nos. 6228/09 and 4 others, 24 April 2014), did the applicants have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
CASE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
Applications nos. 60757/12, 53524/14, 54122/16
Did the applicants have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them, in accordance with Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention, on account of the absence of prosecution witnesses in the hearing (see Al-Khawaja and Tahery v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 26766/05 and 22228/06, ECHR 2011 and Schatschaschwili v. Germany [GC], no. 9154/10, ECHR 2015)?
Application no. 29301/16
Has there been a violation of the applicant’s rights guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention as a result of the listening in via loudspeaker by the police on the applicant’s telephone conversation with the agent of the police Ms O. during the undercover operation?
APPENDIX
No.
Application
no.
Lodged on
Applicant name
date of birth
place of residence represented by
Offence (in relation to agent provocateur complaint)
Other complaints
Domestic Proceedings
60757/12
03/09/2012
Yekaterina Olegovna ANZINA
10/01/1991
Stavropol
sale of drugs (cannabis 8g)
prosecution witnesses Mr Shuleshko, Mr Protsenko, Mr Masalov S.V., Mr Masalov S.A. were not present and questioned at the trial
The Promyshlenniy District Court of Stavropol, 12 January 2012;
The Stavropol Regional Court, 14 March 2012.
53524/14*
08/07/2014
Sergey Aleksandrovich MALOMOZHNOV
20/12/1984
Ufa
sale of drugs (mixture with metilendioksipirovaleon- 1,40 gr).
prosecution witness (buyer) Konovalenko was not present and questioned at the trial
The Oktyabrskiy District Court of Ufa of the the Republic of Bashkortostan, 18 March 2013;
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan, 26 February 2014.
29301/16
17/05/2016
Yevgeniy Gennadyevich CHIRVA
15/03/1993
Moscow
Irina Aleksandrovna SEREBRYAKOVA
sale of drugs (amphetamine, 0.35 g)
listening in by the police via loudspeaker on the applicant’s conversation with the agent of the police, Ms O., during the undercover operation
The Timiryazevsky District Court of Moscow, 15 September 2015;
The Moscow City Court, 09 December 2015.
54122/16
07/09/2016
Sergey Dmitriyevich CHERNOPISKIY
29/01/1981
Sosnovyy Bor
Gennadiy Ivanovich POPOV
sale of drugs (cannabis, 70.5 g)
prosecution witness was not present and questioned at the trial
The Krasnogvardeysky District Court of St. Petersburg, 21 September 2015;
The St. Petersburg City Court, 13 April 2016
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