THIRD SECTION
CASE OF GORYUNKOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 40408/18 and 6 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
21 July 2022
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Goryunkov and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Darian Pavli, President,
Andreas Zünd,
Mikhail Lobov, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 30 June 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 § 1 of the Convention6. The applicants complained principally of the unlawful detention (deprivation of liberty). They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 5 § 1 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
Article 5 § 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. In the leading cases of Fortalnov and Others v. Russia, nos. 7077/06 and 12 others, 26 June 2018, Rozhkov v. Russia (no. 2), no. 38898/04,
§§ 91-96, 31 January 2017, Butkevich v. Russia, no. 5865/07, § 67, 13 February 2018, Kuptsov and Kuptsova v. Russia, no. 6110/03, § 81, 3 March 2011 and Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 121-22, 10 April 2018, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
8. 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 on 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 Government have not put forward any fact or argument capable of persuading the Court to reach a different conclusion in the present case, where the police arrested the applicants and detained them pending the preparation of the administrative offence file, while no evidence that it was impracticable or impossible to compile the offence record on the spot was provided. The Court finds that the escorting of the applicants to the police station and their ensuing detention did not comply with Russian law and were therefore not “lawful” within the meaning of Article 5 § 1.
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. In some applications 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 findings in Karelin v. Russia (no. 926/08, §§ 60‑84, 20 September 2016) and Frumkin v. Russia (no. 74568/12, § 168, 5 January 2016).
remaining complaints11. As regards the complaint under Article 13 of the Convention in conjunction with Article 6 § 1 about lack of any effective remedy in domestic law, submitted by the applicant in application no. 41229/18, the Court, having reached the conclusion about the lack of impartiality of the tribunal under Article 6 of the Convention (see paragraph 10 above), does not consider it necessary to examine the complaint separately.
APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION12. 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.”
13. 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. It therefore dismisses the remainder of the applicants’ claims for just satisfaction.
14. 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 under Article 5 § 1 of the Convention and other complaints under the well-established case-law of the Court, as indicated in the appended table, admissible and decides that there is no need to examine the complaint under Article 13 in conjunction with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in application no. 41229/18;Holds that these applications 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 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;
Dismisses the remainder of the applicants’ claims for just satisfaction.Done in English, and notified in writing on 21 July 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]
40408/18
07/08/2018
Sergey Nikolayevich GORYUNKOV
1972
20/10/2017,
16.00
22/10/2017
10.45
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 (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019)
3,000
41229/18
09/08/2018
Aleksey Aleksandrovich SHAMARDIN
1978
Peredruk Aleksandr Dmitriyevich
St Petersburg
24/01/2018
15.55
24/01/2018
18.40
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 (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019)
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – Domestic courts denied the applicant’s motion to ensure the participation of the prosecutor in the administrative proceedings, the prosecutor was absent (Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08,
20 September 2016)
3,900
44143/18
04/09/2018
Bashir Yusupovich VAGABOV
1989
Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich
Vilnius
28/01/2018
unspecified time
28/01/2018
unspecified time
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 (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019)
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – Domestic courts denied the applicant’s motion to ensure the participation of the prosecutor in the administrative proceedings, the prosecutor was absent (Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08,
20 September 2016)
3,900
47409/18
30/09/2018
Gregory HILL
1999
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
12 June 2017
17.10
13 June 2017
12.30
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 (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019)
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – Domestic courts denied the applicant’s motion to ensure the participation of the prosecutor in the administrative proceedings, the prosecutor was absent (Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08,
20 September 2016)
Art. 6 (1) and Art. 6 (3) (d) - unfair trial in view of restrictions on the right to examine witnesses – Domestic court denied the applicant’s motion to examine the witness in his case, a police officer, on whose written statements his conviction was based. The applicant unsuccessfully challenged this decision on appeal
3,900
47411/18
30/09/2018
George HILL
1997
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
12 June 2017
16.10
13 June 2017
12.30
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 (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019)
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – Domestic courts denied the applicant’s motion to ensure the participation of the prosecutor in the administrative proceedings, the prosecutor was absent (Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08,
20 September 2016)
Art. 6 (1) and Art. 6 (3) (d) - unfair trial in view of restrictions on the right to examine witnesses – Domestic court denied the applicant’s motion to examine the witness in his case, a police officer, on whose written statements his conviction was based. The applicant unsuccessfully challenged this decision on appeal
3,900
48614/18
05/10/2018
Vyacheslav Alekseyevich AGAFONOV
1986
Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich
Vilnius
12 June 2017
16.00
12 June 2017
21.00
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 (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019)
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – Domestic courts denied the applicant’s motion to ensure the participation of the prosecutor in the administrative proceedings, the prosecutor was absent (Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08,
20 September 2016)
3,900
57310/18
05/11/2018
Vladimir Mikhaylovich MATVEYEV
1971
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
12 June 2017
17.22
13 June 2017
03.55
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 (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019)
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – Domestic courts denied the applicant’s motion to ensure the participation of the prosecutor in the administrative proceedings, the prosecutor was absent (Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08,
20 September 2016)
3,900
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.