THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 31293/11
Aleksandr Igorevich LAZAREV against Russia
and 2 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 24 May 2018 as a Committee composed of:
Alena Poláčková, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicant in application no. 1174/15,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the entrapment by State agents were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”).
THE LAW
A. Joinder of the applications
Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
B. Complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
The applicants complained that they had been unfairly convicted of drug-related criminal offences incited by the police. These complaints fall to be examined under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which, in so far as relevant, reads as follows:
“In the determination of ... criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by [a] ... tribunal ...”
1. Application no. 31293/11
The Government submitted that the applicant, Mr Lazarev (application no. 31293/11), had applied to the Court belatedly and that the Court’s Registry had erred in the determination of the introduction date of his application.
In this regard the Court observes that on 24 May 2011 the Registry acknowledged the receipt of the applicant’s first letter and instructed him to submit a complete application form no later than 19 July 2011. He, however, only dispatched his application on 19 August 2011. Accordingly, the latter date should be regarded as the date of the introduction of the case. Having regard to the fact that the final appeal judgment in Mr Lazarev’s criminal case was issued on 10 November 2010, the Court finds his complaints inadmissible for non-compliance with the six-month rule. The application should therefore be rejected pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
2. Applications nos. 1174/15 and 4759/15
The Court has emphasised, in a number of cases, the role of domestic courts in dealing with criminal cases where the accused alleges that he was incited to commit an offence. Any arguable plea of incitement places the courts under an obligation to examine it and make conclusive findings on the issue of entrapment, with the burden of proof on the prosecution to demonstrate that there was no incitement (see Ramanauskas v. Lithuania [GC], no. 74420/01, §§ 70-71, ECHR 2008, and Khudobin v. Russia, no. 59696/00, §§ 133-135, ECHR 2006‑XII (extracts)).
The Court notes that the applicants’ plea of incitement was adequately addressed by the Russian courts, which took the necessary steps to uncover the truth and to eradicate the doubts as to whether the applicants had committed the offence as a result of incitement by an agent provocateur. Their conclusion that there had been no entrapment was based on a reasonable assessment of evidence that was relevant and sufficient. The Court also does not lose sight of the fact that during the criminal proceedings before the Russian courts the applicants either denied the facts imputed to them and/or contested the legal classification of their acts, having changed their versions of events. Nevertheless, despite the unclearly formulated incitement defence of the applicants in the domestic proceedings (see Lelyukin v. Russia (dec.), no. 70841/10, 25 August 2015; Bagaryan and Others v. Russia (dec.), nos. 3346/06 and 4 others, 12 November 2013; and Trifontsov v. Russia (dec.), no. 12025/02, 9 October 2012), the Russian courts took all possible steps to verify each version to be certain that the acts imputed to the applicants did not result from unlawful actions on the part of investigative authorities.
Having regard to the scope of the judicial review of the applicants’ plea of incitement, the Court finds that the applicants’ complaints are manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 (see, for similar reasoning, Bannikova v. Russia, no. 18757/06, §§ 74-79, 4 November 2010).
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 14 June 2018.
Liv TigerstedtAlena Poláčková
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant name
Date of birth
Representative name and location
Test purchase date
Type of drugs
Specific grievances
Final domestic judgment (appeal court, date)
31293/11
19/08/2011
Aleksandr Igorevich Lazarev
26/03/1967
15/01/2010
Marijuana
Anonymous/unverified tip, repeated calls, undercover policeman.
Rostov Regional Court, 10/11/2010
1174/15
22/12/2014
Nikolay Aleksandrovich Kolesnichenko
20/01/1988
25/04/2013
Cannabis
Lack of incriminating information.
Supreme Court of Russia, 09/12/2014
4759/15
09/01/2015
Anton Sergeyevich Sineglazov
25/04/1980
Vlasov Ilya Sergeyevich
Moscow
04/12/2013
Heroin
Lack of incriminating information.
Moscow City Court
09/07/2014
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy