THIRD SECTION
CASE OF SHTATSKIY AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 7413/18 and 9 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
29 April 2021
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Shtatskiy and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Darian Pavli, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Peeter Roosma, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 8 April 2021,
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 excessive length of their pre-trial detention. In applications nos. 19628/18 and 58887/19 the applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAWJOINDER 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.ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 5 § 3 OF THE CONVENTION
6. The applicants complained that their pre-trial detention had been unreasonably long. They relied on Article 5 § 3 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
Article 5 § 3
“3. Everyone arrested or detained in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 (c) of this Article shall be ... entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial. Release may be conditioned by guarantees to appear for trial.”
7. The Court observes that the general principles regarding the right to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial, as guaranteed by Article 5 § 3 of the Convention, have been developed in a number of its previous judgments (see, among many other authorities, Kudła v. Poland [GC], no. 30210/96, § 110, ECHR 2000‑XI, and McKay v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 543/03, §§ 41-44, ECHR 2006‑X, with further references).
8. In the leading case of Dirdizov v. Russia, no. 41461/10, 27 November 2012, the Court has already found a violation in respect of the issues similar to those in the present case.
9. 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 length of the applicants’ pre-trial detention was excessive.
10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention.OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW
11. In applications nos. 19628/18 and 58887/19 the applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see the 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 case-law (see Svinarenko and Slyadnev v. Russia [GC], nos. 32541/08 and 43441/08, ECHR 2014 (extracts), related to issues of confinement of an application in a metal cage during court hearings in a criminal case; and Idalov v. Russia [GC], no. 5826/03, 22 May 2012, as regards conditions of transport).REMAINING COMPLAINTS
12. In applications nos. 19628/18 and 58887/19, the applicants also complained that the review of detention matters in their respective cases had not been compatible with the “speediness” requirement of Article 5 § 4 of the Convention.
13. The Court has examined the applications listed in the appended table 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 CONVENTION
14. 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, Pastukhov and Yelagin v. Russia, no. 55299/07, 19 December 2013), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
16. 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.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,Decides to join the applications;Declares the complaints concerning the excessive length of pre-trial detention and the other complaints under well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and the remainder of applications nos. 19628/18 and 58887/19 inadmissible;Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of pre-trial detention;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 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 29 April 2021, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
{signature_p_2}
Viktoriya MaradudinaDarian Pavli
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention
(excessive length of pre-trial detention)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Period of detention
Court which issued detention order/examined appeal
Length of 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]
7413/18
02/02/2018
Anatoliy Nikolayevich SHTATSKIY
1960
Dobralskiy Aleksandr Igorevich
Kaliningrad
30/03/2017 to
26/03/2018
Leningradskiy District Court of Kaliningrad; Kaliningrad Regional Court
11 month(s) and
27 day(s)
Use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice;
failure to assess the applicant’s personal situation reducing the risks of re-offending, colluding or absconding;
failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint.
1,000
19628/18
14/04/2018
Yevgeniy Vladimorovich STANICHNIKOV
1988
Golub Olga Viktorovna
Suzemka
20/12/2017 to
31/10/2019
Preobrazhenskiy District Court of Moscow; Moscow City Court
1 year(s) and 10 month(s) and 12 day(s)
Fragility of the reasons employed by the courts; use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice;
failure to assess the applicant’s personal situation reducing the risks of re-offending, colluding or absconding;
failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint.
Art. 3 - use of metal cages and/or other security arrangements in courtrooms - confinement in a metal cage in a video-link room of IZ-77/1 Moscow during hearings at the Moscow City Court on 15/01/2018, 13/02/2018, 06/03/2018;
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of placement in a metal cage during court hearings.
9,750
24472/18
03/05/2018
Oleg Gennadyevich ANTONOV
1971
Mazitov Marat Farukovich
Moscow
25/08/2015 to
07/09/2018
Dorogomilovskiy District Court of Moscow, Moscow City Court
3 year(s) and
14 day(s)
Failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint
collective detention orders
use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice
fragility of the reasons employed by the courts.
3,100
33148/18
06/07/2018
Pavel Pavlovich TROFIMOV
1986
Kamikhin Gennadiy Nikolayevich
Voronezh
01/02/2018 to
03/07/2018
Leninskiy District Court of Voronezh, Voronezh Regional Court
5 month(s) and
3 day(s)
Fragility of the reasons employed by the courts, failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint, use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice.
500
34193/18
09/07/2018
Aleksandr Yuryevich KISLITSKIY
1981
Kirin Nikita Aleksandrovich
Lipetsk
29/06/2015 to
06/04/2020
Oktyabrskiy District Court of Lipetsk; Lipetsk Regional Court
4 year(s) and
9 month(s) and
9 day(s)
Failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint
fragility of the reasons employed by the courts; use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice
failure to conduct the proceedings with due diligence during the period of detention.
5,000
25864/19
06/05/2019
Rashid Akramovich ABDULLOV
1967
Khaliullin Robert Nurgaleyevich
Kazan
01/08/2018 to 29/07/2019
Basmannyy District Court of Moscow; Moscow City Court
11 month(s) and 29 day(s)
Fragility of the reasons employed by the courts; collective detention orders; use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice; failure to assess the applicant’s personal situation reducing the risks of re-offending, colluding or absconding; failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint.
1,000
28125/19
16/05/2019
Sergey Petrovich KALININ
1963
Karamanukyan David Toniyevich
Rostovka
13/06/2018 to
20/02/2020
Kuybyshevskiy District Court of Omsk, Omsk Regional Court, Pervomayskiy District Court of Omsk, Basmannyy District Court of Moscow, Moscow City Court
1 year(s) and 8 month(s) and 8 day(s)
Use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice; failure to assess the applicant’s personal situation reducing the risks of re-offending, colluding or absconding; failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint; failure to conduct the proceedings with due diligence during the period of detention.
1,900
30468/19
23/05/2019
Aleksey Shamilyovich KUCHAYEV
1975
Ivanov Aleksey Valeryevich
Krasnodar
28/12/2018
pending
Oktyabrskiy District Court of Krasnodar, Krasnodar Regional Court
More than
2 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 12 day(s)
Fragility of the reasons employed by the courts; use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice.
2,300
46362/19
28/08/2019
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich BUTSIN
1976
Lebedev Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
Moscow
26/03/2019
pending
Basmannyy District Court of Moscow, Moscow City Court
More than
1 year(s) and 11 month(s) and 14 day(s)
Use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice;
failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint;
failure to assess the applicant’s personal situation reducing the risks of re-offending, colluding or absconding.
2,000
58887/19
05/11/2019
Dmitriy Valeryevich MISHIN
1974
Mazitov Marat Farukovich
Moscow
13/06/2018 to
27/08/2020
Lefortovskiy District Court of Moscow, Moscow City Court
2 year(s) and 2 month(s) and 15 day(s)
Use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice;
failure to assess the applicant’s personal situation reducing the risks of re-offending, colluding or absconding;
fragility of the reasons employed by the courts; failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint.
Art. 3 - inadequate conditions of detention during transport - transport by van to take part in investigative actions and to a courthouse on 07/06/2019 and 09/09/2019; lack of or insufficient electric light, passive smoking, absence or inadequate heating and ventilation, overcrowding, no meals;
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law - to complain about poor conditions of transport.
3,000
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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