THIRD SECTION
CASE OF AKHTYAMOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 17105/18 and 8 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
10 November 2022
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Akhtyamov and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Darian Pavli, President,
Andreas Zünd,
Frédéric Krenc, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 20 October 2022,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in applications against Russia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.
2. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained of the unlawful detention (deprivation of liberty). They also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 5 of the Convention6. The applicants complained that the administrative escorting and arrest procedures and their ensuing detention had been in contravention of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention, which, in so far as relevant, reads as follows:
“1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law:
...
(c) the lawful arrest or detention of a person effected for the purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offence or when it is reasonably considered necessary to prevent his committing an offence or fleeing after having done so; ...”
7. The Court has previously examined complaints brought by persons arrested and detained in similar circumstances in Russia. Having examined the applicable domestic regulations, the Court established that, under the Russian law, the escorting to a police station and ensuing detention there for the purpose of preparing an administrative arrest record would be permissible only if such record could not be drawn up at the place where the alleged offence had been discovered. The law also required that such escorting and detention be an “exceptional case” and necessary for the prompt and proper examination of the alleged administrative case or to secure the enforcement of any penalty to be imposed (see, for example, Navalnyy v. Russia [GC], nos. 29580/12 and 4 others, § 71, 15 November 2018). The authorities’ failure to comply with those requirements, in the Court’s view, led to it finding a violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention (see, in particular, Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, §§ 34-36, 8 October 2019).
8. Having examined all the material submitted to it and having dismissed the Government’s objection of non-exhaustion (see Smadikov v. Russia (dec.), no. 10810/15, 31 January 2017), the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. The Court discerns nothing in the official records submitted for it to conclude that recourse to such procedures was justified, as required by the Russian law. It concludes that the national authorities failed to comply with applicable rules of domestic procedure and considers that the applicants’ arrest and detention were not “in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law”.
9. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention.
OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW10. The applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its well-established case-law (see Frumkin v. Russia, no. 74568/12, 5 January 2016, concerning disproportionate measures taken by the authorities against organisers and participants of public assemblies; Novikova and Others v. Russia, nos. 25501/07 and 4 others, 26 April 2016, concerning disproportionate measures taken by the authorities against participants of solo manifestations; Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08, 20 September 2016, concerning examination of criminal cases in the absence of a prosecuting party in the judicial proceedings governed by the Federal Code of Administrative Offences, and Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 178-91, 10 April 2018, concerning lack of a suspensive effect of an appeal and immediate execution of a sentence of administrative detention).
11. In view of the above findings, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with the applicants’ complaints under Article 6 of the Convention concerning other aspects of the fairness of the proceedings and alleged restrictions on the right to examine witnesses.
REMAINING COMPLAINTS12. In applications nos. 33869/18 and 1683/20, the applicants also raised other complaints under various provisions of the Convention.
13. The Court has examined these complaints and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.
It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION14. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”
15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Biryuchenko and Others v. Russia [Committee], no. 1253/04 and 2 others, § 96, 11 December 2014), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
16. The Court further considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
Decides to join the applications;Declares the complaints concerning the unlawful detention (deprivation of liberty) and the other complaints under well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, finds that there is no need to deal separately with the applicants’ complaints under Article 6 of the Convention concerning other aspects of the fairness of the proceedings and alleged restrictions on the right to examine witnesses and decides that the remainder of applications nos. 33869/18 and 1683/20 is inadmissible;Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention concerning the unlawful detention (deprivation of liberty);Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention and its Protocols as regards the other complaints raised under well-established case-law of the Court (see the appended table); Holds(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;
(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 10 November 2022, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 5 § 1 of the Convention
(unlawful detention (deprivation of liberty))
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Start date of unauthorised detention
End date of unauthorised detention
Specific defects
Other complaints under well-established case-law
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant
(in euros)[1]
17105/18
02/04/2018
Vadim Tagirovich AKHTYAMOV
1993
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
26/03/2017, 6:00 p.m.
27/03/2017 2:00 a.m.
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above), Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the three-hour statutory period (Art. 27.5(1)-(4) CAO)
(Tsvetkova and Others, cited above,
§§ 121-22).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,
Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - Anti-corruption meeting on Pushkinskaya square, Moscow on 26/03/2017. Conviction under
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO with fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court, 04/10/2017
3,900
33869/18
25/06/2018
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich AGEYEV
1989
Charskiy Vladimir Valentinovich
Saratov
07/11/2017
08/11/2017
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above), Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the three-hour statutory period (Art. 27.5(1)-(4) CAO)
(Tsvetkova and Others, cited above,
§§ 121-22).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings, fine of RUB 20,000, 25/12/2017, Saratov Regional Court;
Art. 10 (1) - disproportionate measures against solo demonstrators - Solo student protest in Saratov on 04/09/2017, charges under Article 20.2 § 1, fine of RUB 20,000
(final domestic decision - Saratov Regional Court, 25/12/2017);
Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - in respect of the public event of 05/05/2018 (rally ‘For the right to be a Russian citizen’); final decision on the matter was taken by the Saratov Regional Court on 04/09/2018; Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO; fine of RUB 15,000 imposed.
3,900
64938/19
18/12/2019
Viktor Aleksandrovich UMANSKIY
1993
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
27/07/2019, 4:30 p.m.
28/07/2019, 0:05 a.m.
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above), Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the three-hour statutory period
(Art. 27.5(1)-(4) CAO (Tsvetkova and Others, cited above, §§ 121-22).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of a prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings;
Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma, Moscow, 27/07/2019. Conviction under Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO with fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court, 10/09/2019.
3,900
1683/20
27/12/2019
Mikhail Vadimovich BYKANOV
1987
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
27/07/2019, 7:55 p.m.
29/07/2019 9:30 p.m.
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above). Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the 48-hour statutory period
(Art. 27.5(3)-(4) and
Art. 29.6(4) CAO)
(Tsvetkova and Others, cited above,
§§ 121-22).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of a prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings;
Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma, Moscow, 27/07/2019. Conviction under Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO with fine of RUB 10,000. Moscow City Court, 04/09/2019.
3,900
14504/20
04/03/2020
Anton Yuriyevich NYUCHEV
1983
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
27/07/2019, 9.40 p.m.
28/07/2019, 3.50 a.m.
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above), Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the three-hour statutory period
(Art. 27.5(1)-(4) CAO)
(Tsvetkova and Others, cited above,
§§ 121-22).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of a prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings,
Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma in Moscow on 27/07/2019; convicted under Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO; fine of RUB 12,000; final - Moscow City Court, 04/09/2019.
3,900
17615/20
16/03/2020
Dmitriy Andreyevich BOLSHAKOV
1999
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
27/07/2019, 5.00 p.m.
28/07/2019, 12.00 a.m.
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above);
Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the three-hour statutory period
(Art. 27.5(1)-(4) CAO)
(Tsvetkova and Others, cited above,
§§ 121-22).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of a prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings;
Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma in Moscow on 27/07/2019; convicted under article 20.2 § 5 of CAO: fine of RUB 10,000; final - Moscow City Court, 16/09/2019.
3,900
1176/21
12/12/2020
Angelina Nikolayevna YUGANOVA
1972
Gilmanov Mansur Idrisovich
Podolsk
03/07/2020,
10.50 p.m.
04/07/2020,
12.05 a.m.
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above);
Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the three-hour statutory period
(Art. 27.5(1)-(4) CAO)
(Tsvetkova and Others, cited above,
§§ 121-22).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings - fine of RUB 10,000, 14/10/2020, Moscow City Court,
Art. 10 (1) - disproportionate measures against solo demonstrators - Solo demonstration in Moscow, in front of the FSB headquarters, 03/07/2020, in support of a journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva, charges under article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of
RUB 10,000. Final domestic decision - 14/10/2020 Moscow City Court.
3,900
13168/21
11/02/2021
Marina Yuryevna CHUPRAKOVA
1969
Mikhaylova Varvara Dmitriyevna
St Petersburg
15/03/2020
15/03/2020
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings - no. 926/08,
20 September 2016, (Karelin, cited above);
Art. 10 (1) - disproportionate measures against solo demonstrators - Solo demonstration in Senatskaya square,
St Petersburg, on 15/03/2020 (Protest against amendments to the Constitution), charges under article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of
RUB 10,000. Final domestic decision - 01/09/2020, St Petersburg City Court. Rotation - event classified as assembly post facto.
3,900
26424/21
19/04/2021
Nikita Yevgenyevich GIRIN
1990
02/02/2021
03/02/2021
Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (Korneyeva, cited above), Detention as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment of “exceptional circumstances” under Art. 27.3 § 1 CAO (Butkevich v. Russia, no. 5865/07,
§§ 63-64, 13 see and Others, cited above,
§§ 121-22);
Detention as an administrative suspect: the applicant remained in detention after the offence record had been compiled (Korneyeva, cited above, § 35).
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings - in respect of the proceedings which ended on 26/10/2020 and 10/02/2021. The final decisions were taken by the Moscow City Court on the dates indicated. The applicant was found liable of an administrative offence and sentenced to a fine and an administrative arrest, respectively;
Art. 10 (1) - disproportionate measures against solo demonstrators - Solo demonstration in support of I. Safronov in Moscow in front of the FSB headquarters on 07/07/2020, charges under article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of RUB 10,000. Final domestic decision - Moscow City Court, 26/10/2020. rotation - event classified as assembly
post facto;
Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - Manifestation in support of A. Navalnyy on 02/02/2021, 14-days administrative detention, article 20.2 § 8 of CAO, Moscow City Court 10/02/2021;
Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - immediate enforcement ordered by the first-instance court (final - 10/02/2021,
Moscow City Court).
3,900
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.