FIRST SECTION
CASE OF BAZHENOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 10149/20 and 19 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
23 March 2023
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Bazhenov and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Lətif Hüseynov, President,
Ivana Jelić,
Erik Wennerström, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 2 March 2023,
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 applicants were represented by Memorial Human Rights Centre, a non-governmental organisation practicing in Moscow.
3. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
4. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
5. The applicants complained of the disproportionate measures taken against them as participants of public assemblies, namely the manifestations for fair elections to the Mosgorduma. They also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS6. 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 11 OF THE CONVENTION7. The applicants complained principally of disproportionate measures taken against them as participants of public assemblies, namely the dispersal of these assemblies, as well as their arrest followed by their conviction for administrative offence. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 11 of the Convention.
8. The Court refers to the principles established in its case-law regarding freedom of assembly (see Kudrevičius and Others v. Lithuania [GC], no. 37553/05, ECHR 2015, with further references) and proportionality of interference with it (see Oya Ataman v. Turkey, no. 74552/01, ECHR 2006‑XIV, and Hyde Park and Others v. Moldova, no. 33482/06, 31 March 2009).
9. In the leading cases of Frumkin v. Russia, no. 74568/12, ECHR 2016 (extracts), Navalnyy and Yashin v. Russia, no. 76204/11, 4 December 2014 and Kasparov and Others v. Russia, no. 21613/07, 3 October 2013, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
10. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion as to the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the interferences with the applicants’ freedom of assembly were not “necessary in a democratic society”.
11. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention.
OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW12. 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.
13. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its findings in its well-established case-law (see Butkevich v. Russia, no. 5865/07, §§ 63-65, 13 February 2018; Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 121-23, 10 April 2018; Kalyapin v. Russia, no. 6095/09, § 76, 23 July 2019; and Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, §§ 34-36, 8 October 2019, concerning various aspects of unlawful deprivation of liberty of organisers or participants of public events; and Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08, 20 September 2016, related to examination of criminal cases in the absence of a prosecuting party in the judicial proceedings governed by the Federal Code of Administrative Offences (CAO)).
REMAINING COMPLAINTS14. 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.
APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION15. 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.”
16. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Navalnyy and Others v. Russia [Committee], no. 25809/17 and 14 others, § 22, 4 October 2022), the Court finds it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
Decides to join the applications;Declares the complaints under Article 11 of the Convention and the other complaints under the well-established case-law of the Court (as indicted in the appended table) admissible and finds that there is no need to deal separately with the remaining complaints of the applicants under Article 6 of the Convention;Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention concerning the interferences with the applicants’ freedom of assembly;Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention as regards the other complaints raised under well-established case-law of the Court (see 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 23 March 2023, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Lətif Hüseynov
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 11 of the Convention
(disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Name of the public event
Location
Date
Administrative charges
Penalty
Final domestic decision
Court Name
Date
Other complaints
under well-established case-law
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non‑pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant
(in euros)[1]
10149/20
13/02/2020
Denis Anatolyevich BAZHENOV
1985
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
08/10/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative arrest;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - lack of the prosecuting party in the administrative offence proceedings – Final decision:
Moscow City Court
08/10/2019
4,000
10632/20
17/02/2020
Anastasiya Antonovna YAKUBOVSKAYA
1998
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
04/09/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative arrest;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
04/09/2019
4,000
10639/20
17/02/2020
Yakov Vadimovich MANSHIN
1997
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 20,000
Moscow City Court
30/10/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - lack of legal grounds for arrest, escorting to the police station and detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
30/10/2019
4,000
10703/20
17/02/2020
Valeriy Yuryevich KISLOV
1992
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 15,000
Moscow City Court
12/09/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - lack of legal grounds for arrest, escorting to the police station and detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
12/09/2019
4,000
10820/20
22/02/2020
Yevgeniya Valeryevna YEFREMOVA
1972
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
28/08/2019
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
28/08/2019;
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis – arrest, escorting to the police office and detention on 27/07/2019 for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence
4,000
10922/20
07/02/2020
Anton Aleksandrovich LIFANOV
1982
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
03/08/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
20/09/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - unlawful detention on 03/08/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up an offence record;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
20/09/2019
4,000
10925/20
07/02/2020
Denis Anatolyevich YEGOROV
1989
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
03/08/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 15,000
Moscow City Court
30/09/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - unlawful detention on 03/08/2019 exceeded 8 hours; detained solely for the purpose of drawing up an offence record;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
30/09/2019
4,000
11037/20
07/02/2020
Vitaliy Vladimirovich CHERNYKH
1982
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 19,000
Moscow City Court
28/10/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 27-28 July 2019 for the sole purpose of drawing up an offence record;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
28/10/2019
4,000
11039/20
07/02/2020
Aleksey Aleksandrovich ILCHENKO
1987
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 15,000
Moscow City Court
26/09/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up an arrest record;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
26/09/2019
4,000
11078/20
22/02/2020
Aleksandr Yuryevich NEDOSEKIN
1984
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
120 hours’ compulsory work
Moscow City Court
22/08/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up an arrest record;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
22/08/2019
4,000
11082/20
22/02/2020
Sergey Yevgenyevich PIKHOVKIN
1983
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
26/08/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 27/07/2019 for the sole purpose of drawing up an arrest record;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
26/08/2019
4,000
11088/20
22/02/2020
Igor Gennadyevich MUSHENKO
1991
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
22/08/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - lack of legal grounds for arrest, escorting to the police station and detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
22/08/2019
4,000
11177/20
22/02/2020
Roman Nikolayevich IZOTOV
1972
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
26/09/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - detention in excess of 3 hours on 27/07/2019 for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative arrest;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
26/09/2019
4,000
11184/20
22/02/2020
Leonid Alekseyevich NOVITSKIY
1986
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 15,000
Moscow City Court
26/08/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - detention in excess of 3 hours for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative arrest on 27/07/2019;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
26/08/2019
4,000
11311/20
15/02/2020
Vsevolod Yuryevich SEKRETEV
1995
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 6 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
16/08/2019
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
16/08/2019;
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - lack of legal grounds for arrest and escorting to the police station on 27/07/2019
4,000
11732/20
20/02/2020
Vladimir Aleksandrovich MEDVEDEV
1992
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 20,000
Moscow City Court
20/08/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and escorting on 27/07/2019 to the police office for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
20/08/2019
4,000
11946/20
20/02/2020
Sergey Konstantinovich MOROZOV
1999
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO
fine of RUB 15,000
Moscow City Court
20/08/2019
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
20/08/2019;
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and escorting to the police office on 27/07/2019 for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours
4,000
11977/20
20/02/2020
Roman Petrovich FANASKOV
1989
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
04/09/2019
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
04/09/2019;
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and escorting to the police office on 27/07/2019 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours
4,000
12046/20
20/02/2020
Pavel Platonovich KROKHONYATKIN
1987
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
06/09/2019
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
06/09/2019;
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and escorting to the police office on 27/07/2019 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours.
4,000
14008/20
28/02/2020
Vadim Anatolyevich KAGLIK
1983
Manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
03/08/2019
Article 20.2 § 2 of CAO
fine of RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
30/08/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 03/08/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of tribunal - absence of the prosecuting party in the administrative-offence proceedings: Final decision:
Moscow City Court
30/08/2019
4,000
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.