THIRD SECTION
CASE OF KAZACHKOVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 33064/07 and 8 others -
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
30 November 2017
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Kazachkova and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Luis López Guerra, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 9 November 2017,
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 applications were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”).
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 non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic decisions and of the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law.
THE LAW
I. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
II. THE GOVERNMENT’S REQUEST TO STRIKE OUT SOME APPLICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 37 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION
6. The Government submitted unilateral declaration in some applications which did not offer a sufficient basis for finding that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention does not require the Court to continue its examination of the case (Article 37 § 1 in fine). The Court rejects the Government’s request to strike the applications out and will accordingly pursue its examination of the cases (see Tahsin Acar v. Turkey (preliminary objections) [GC], no. 26307/95, § 75, ECHR 2003‑VI).
III. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 AND ARTICLE 13 OF THE CONVENTION AND OF ARTICLE 1 OF PROTOCOL No. 1
7. The applicants complained of the non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic decisions given in their favour and of the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention and on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, which read as follows:
Article 6 § 1
“In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ... everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by [a] ... tribunal ...”
Article 13
“Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in [the] Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity.”
Article 1 of Protocol No. 1
“Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law.
The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties.”
8. The Court reiterates that the execution of a judgment given by any court must be regarded as an integral part of a “hearing” for the purposes of Article 6. It also refers to its case-law concerning the non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of final domestic judgments (see Hornsby v. Greece, no. 18357/91, § 40, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997‑II).
9. In the leading case of Gerasimov and Others v. Russia, no. 29920/05 and 10 others, 1 July 2014, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
10. Having regard to the nature of the judicial awards in the applicants’ favour (see the appended table for details of court orders), the Court considers that the applicants had, by virtue of these judgments, a “legitimate expectation” to acquire a pecuniary asset, which was sufficiently established to constitute a “possession” within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.
11. 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 authorities did not deploy all necessary efforts to enforce fully and in due time the decisions in the applicants’ favour, as indicated in the appended table below.
12. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.
13. The applicants also complained under Article 13 of the Convention about the lack of an effective domestic remedy in respect of the non‑enforcement. The Court has already noted the existence of a new domestic remedy against the non-enforcement of domestic judgments imposing obligations of a pecuniary and non-pecuniary nature on the Russian authorities, introduced in the wake of the pilot judgment, which enables those concerned to seek compensation for damage sustained as a result of excessive delays in the enforcement of court judgments (see Kamneva and Others v. Russia (dec.), no. 35555/05 and 6 others, 2 May 2017). Even though the remedy was – or still is – available to the applicants, the Court reiterates that it would be unfair to request the applicants whose cases have already been pending for many years in the domestic system and who have come to seek relief at the Court, to bring again their claims before domestic tribunals (see Gerasimov and Others, cited above, § 230).
14. However, in the light of the adoption of the new domestic remedy, the Court, as in its previous decisions, considers that it is not necessary to examine separately the admissibility and merits of the applicants’ complaint under Article 13 in the present cases (see, for a similar approach, Korotyayeva and Others v. Russia, nos. 13122/11 and 2 others, §§ 36-40, 27 June 2017; Kamneva and Others, cited above, and, mutatis mutandis, Tkhyegepso and Others v. Russia, no. 44387/04 and 11 others, §§ 21-24, 25 October 2011). This ruling is without prejudice to the Court’s future assessment of the new remedy.
IV. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
15. 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, and insofar as claims for just satisfaction were lodged by the applicants (see, in particular, Gerasimov and Others, cited above, §§ 187‑200; and Korotyayeva and Others, cited above), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
17. The Court 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.
18. At the same time, the Court notes from the Government’s submissions that in applications nos. 49569/13 and 68839/13 the domestic judgments in the applicants’ favour have remained unenforced to date. The State’s obligation to enforce those judgments is not in dispute. The Court considers that the respondent State has an outstanding obligation to secure, by appropriate means, enforcement of the judgment in the applicants’ favour (see Pridatchenko and Others v. Russia, nos. 2191/03 and 3 others, § 68, 21 June 2007, and Salikova v. Russia, no. 25270/06, § 83, 15 July 2010).
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
1. Decides to join the applications;
2. Rejects the Government’s request to strike some of the applications out of the list;
3. Declares the complaints concerning the non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic decisions, as indicated in the appended table, admissible;
4. Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1;
5. Decides that it is not necessary to examine the admissibility and merits of the applicants’ complaint under Article 13 of the Convention;
6. Holds that the respondent State shall ensure, by appropriate means, within three months, the enforcement of the pending domestic decisions in applications nos. 49569/13 and 68839/13;
7. 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 30 November 2017, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Liv TigerstedtLuis López Guerra
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 of the Convention and Article 1 of the Protocol No. 1
(non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic decisions and lack of any effective remedy in domestic law)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant name
Date of birth
Relevant domestic decision
Start date of non-enforcement period
End date of non-enforcement period
Length of enforcement proceedings
Domestic order
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant / household
(in euros)[1]
33064/07
05/06/2007
Tatyana Nikolayevna Kazachkova
04/01/1973
Albert Aflitunov
16/04/1949
Presnenskiy District Court of Moscow, 19/11/2003
06/04/2004
04/09/2009
5 year(s) and
4 month(s) and 30 day(s)
To register a trade union
6,000
13600/10
12/02/2010
Valentina Aleksandrovna Stepnova
25/01/1946
Bazarnosyzganskiy District Court of Ulyanovsk Region, 27/02/2009
07/04/2009
27/12/2010
1 year(s) and
8 month(s) and 21 day(s)
To provide heating supply of the applicant’s apartment
1,500
40437/10
28/06/2010
Sergey Alekseyevich Loginov
21/09/1959
Maikop Garrison Military Court, 30/11/2009
Maikop City Court of the Republic of Adygeya
18/09/2009
10/12/2009
23/10/2009
10/11/2016
6 year(s) and 11 month(s) and 1 day(s)
11/04/2011
1 year and
5 month(s) and 19 day(s)
provision of documents related to housing
provision of documents related to housing
6,000
78491/12
18/08/2012
Vladimir Petrovich Loktionov
07/04/1950
Zyuzinskiy District Court of Moscow, 21/10/2004
Presidium of
Moscow City Court, 15/06/2006
10/12/2004
15/06/2006
18/12/2013
9 year(s) and
9 day(s)
18/12/2013
7 year(s) and
6 month(s) and 4 day(s)
"... the Head of the [Forensic Bureau] to incorporate in the Rehabilitation Program ... a profession ..."
"... acknowledge the unlawfulness of the actions of the Head of the [Forensic Bureau] ..."
6,000
20600/13
31/01/2013
Vladimir Stepanovich Sazonov
04/03/1953
Volodarskiy District Court of Bryansk, 20/12/2011
21/02/2012
03/04/2013
1 year(s) and
1 month(s) and 14 day(s)
exclude the applicant’s house from the list of houses to be demolished
1,000
49569/13
10/07/2013
Household
Viktoriya Viktorovna Klassen
01/10/1984
Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Soplin
25/05/1955
Tamara Anatolyevna Soplina
15/06/1952
Orenburskiy District Court of Orenburg Region,
16/02/2009
06/03/2009
pending
More than
8 year(s) and
5 month(s) and 23 day(s)
repair works in the applicants’ house
6,500
63406/13
22/07/2013
Aleksey Alekseyevich Grinko
25/07/1978
Military Court of Naro-Fominsk, 17/02/2011
Troitsky District Court of Moscow, 18/06/2013
09/03/2011
24/06/2013
01/04/2016
5 year(s) and 24 day(s)
01/04/2016
2 year(s) and
9 month(s) and 9 day(s)
provision of housing
3,644
68839/13
25/09/2009
Igor Stanislavovich Yevseyev
20/01/1955
Syktyvkar Federal Court,
08/02/2002
18/02/2002
pending
More than
15 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 11 day(s)
provision of housing
6,000
76570/13
18/11/2013
Aleksey Alekseyevich Grinko
25/07/1978
Naro-Fominsk Garrison Military Court,
18/11/2011
29/11/2011
27/10/2014
2 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 29 day(s)
recalculation and payment of monetary allowance
2,590
[1]. Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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