FOURTH SECTION
CASE OF SVINTSOVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 25557/17 and 11 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
1 June 2023
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Svintsova and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Faris Vehabović, President,
Armen Harutyunyan,
Anja Seibert-Fohr, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 11 May 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 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 disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies. 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.
JURISDICTION6. The Court observes that the facts giving rise to the alleged violations of the Convention occurred prior to 16 September 2022, the date on which the Russian Federation ceased to be a party to the Convention. The Court therefore decides that it has jurisdiction to examine the present applications (see Fedotova and Others v. Russia [GC], nos. 40792/10 and 2 others, §§ 68‑73, 17 January 2023).
ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 11 OF THE CONVENTION7. The applicants complained principally of disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies, namely their arrest in relation to the dispersal of these assemblies and their conviction for administrative offences. 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. Some 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 these complaints also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its findings in Butkevich v. Russia, no. 5865/07, §§ 63-65, 13 February 2018; Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 115-31, 10 April 2018; Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, §§ 34-36, 8 October 2019; and Teslenko and Others v. Russia, nos. 49588/12 and 3 others, §§ 72‑74 and 81-82, 5 April 2022, as to administrative escorting to and/or detention in a police station beyond three hours for non-custodial offences, without substantiating the impossibility to compile an offence report at the rally venue or any exceptional circumstances or another valid ground under the Code of Administrative Offences (CAO) or continued detention after the offence report was compiled; Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08, §§ 58-85, 20 September 2016, concerning the absence of a prosecuting party in the proceedings under the CAO.
REMAINING COMPLAINTS14. Some applicants raised further additional complaints under Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention concerning other aspects of their deprivation of liberty and fairness of the administrative-offence proceedings. In view of the findings in paragraphs 11 and 13 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints.
APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see in particular Navalnyy and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 25809/17 and 14 others, § 22, 4 October 2022), the Court finds it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table and dismisses the remainder of the applicants’ claims for just satisfaction.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
Decides to join the applications;Holds that it has jurisdiction to deal with the applicants’ complaints as they relate to facts that took place before 16 September 2022;Declares the complaints under Article 11 of the Convention and the other complaints under the well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and finds that there is no need to examine separately the remaining complaints under Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention;Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention;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 1 June 2023, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Faris Vehabović
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
Representative’s name and location
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]
25557/17
06/03/2017
Tatyana Fedorovna SVINTSOVA
1973
Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich
Mytishchi
Meeting in support of
N. Savchenko
Moscow
08/03/2016
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
08/09/2016
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings.
5,000
53179/17
13/07/2017
Vladimir Yuryevich DOROKHOV
1985
Terekhov Konstantin Ilyich
Moscow
Anticorruption rally
Tula
26/03/2017
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 10,000
Tula Regional Court
27/04/2017
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 26/03/2017 where the applicant was held from 3 to 8 p.m.
There is no evidence/assessment that it was impossible to draw up an offence record on the spot (Article 27.2 § 1 of the CAO) and to achieve the goals set by Art. 27.1 of CAO, e.g., to identify the suspect.
4,000
54083/17
17/07/2017
and
8662/20
03/02/2020
Ilya Aleksandrovich YERMOLAYEV
1984
Terekhov Konstantin Ilyich
Moscow
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
Anticorruption rally
Khabarovsk
26/03/2017
Rally for fair elections
Moscow
27/07/2019
Article 20.2 § 1 of CAO
Article 20.2 § 1 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 10,000
Administrative fine
RUB 20,000
Khabarovsk Regional Court
23/05/2017
Moscow City Court
24/09/2019
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention –
1) Escorting to the police station and administrative arrest on 26/03/2017 from 3 p.m. to 5.47 p.m.;
2) lack of legal grounds for escorting to the police station on 27/07/2019 from 3 to 6 p.m.;
There is no evidence/assessment that it was impossible to draw up an offence record on the spot (Article 27.2 § 1 of the CAO) and to achieve the goals set by Art. 27.1 of CAO, e.g., to identify the suspect.
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings
4,000
83271/17
03/12/2017
Mariya Aleksandrovna VOYEVODINA
1980
Ratnikova Svetlana Sergeyevna
St Petersburg
Anticorruption rally
St Petersburg
26/03/2017
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 10,000
St Petersburg City Court
22/06/2017
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings;
5,000
83319/17
03/12/2017
Oleg Otariyevich KOIAVA
1978
Ratnikova Svetlana Sergeyevna
St Petersburg
Anticorruption rally
St Petersburg
26/03/2017
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 10,000
St Petersburg City Court
06/07/2017
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings;
5,000
83941/17
08/12/2017
Nikita Igorevich ROLIN
1998
Memorial Human Rights Centre
Moscow
Anticorruption rally
Moscow
26/03/2017
Article 19.3 § 1 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 1,000
Moscow City Court
08/06/2017
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station and administrative arrest from
5.30 p.m. on 26/03/2017 until 2.20 a.m.
on 27/03/2017; detention in excess of 3 hours;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
4,000
2702/18
16/12/2017
Amir Ramilevich VYALSHIN
1997
Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich
Mytishchi
Anticorruption rally
Moscow
26/03/2017
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 20,000
Moscow City Court
12/07/2017
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings;
5,000
6378/18
16/12/2017
and
13966/20
28/02/2020
Stanislav Olegovich BELYANSKIY
1965
Antokhin Yevgeniy Vyacheslavovich
Moscow
Anticorruption rally
Moscow
12/06/2017
Rally for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
14/07/2019
Rally for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019
Rally in support of the accused in "Set" and "Novoye Velichiye" cases
Moscow
13/05/2019
Article 19.3 § 1 of CAO
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Administrative detention of ten days
Administrative fine of
RUB 10,000
Administrative fine of
RUB 15,000
Administrative fine of
RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
19/06/2017
Moscow City Court
14/07/2020
Moscow City Court
18/09/2019
Moscow City Court
30/08/2019
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in all sets of the administrative-offence proceedings;
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - The applicant complained of his detention on 13-14/05/2019, 14‑15/07/2019, and 27-29/07/2019; there is no evidence/assessment that it was impossible to draw up an offence record on the spot (Article 27.2 § 1 of the CAO) and to achieve the goals set by Art. 27.1 of CAO, e.g., to identify the suspect.
6,000
9691/18
09/02/2018
Konstantin Vladimirovich FILIPPOV
1986
Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich
Mytishchi
Anti-governmental rally
Moscow
02/04/2017
Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO
Administrative fine
RUB 20,000
Moscow City Court
10/08/2017
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings;
5,000
9848/18
12/02/2018
Filipp Vladimirovich KHODANOV
1995
Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich
Mytishchi
Anticorruption rally
Moscow
26/03/2017
Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
Administrative fine of
RUB 10,000
Moscow City Court
14/08/2017
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Escorting to a police station and administrative arrest from 1.45 p.m. on 26/03/2017 to 7 a.m. on 27/03/2017; detention in excess of three hours;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings;
5,000
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.