Communicated on 25 November 2019
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 15706/19
Anatoliy Aleksandrovich MISHARIN
against Russia
lodged on 12 March 2019
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Anatoliy Aleksandrovich Misharin, is a Russian national, who was born in 1981 and lives in Syktyvkar.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 28 January 2018 the road police found the applicant in violation of traffic regulations and imposed a fine on him in the amount of 500 Russian roubles (RUB). The applicant did not pay the fine.
On 9 September 2018 the police arrested the applicant on the charge of administrative fine evasion. The applicant’s request to inform his lawyer of the arrest was to no avail. The applicant remained in custody pending the administrative proceedings against him.
On 11 September 2018 at 11.30 a.m. the secretary of the justice of the peace of the Pervomayskiy judicial circuit of Syktyvkar informed the applicant’s lawyer that the applicant’s case was scheduled for hearing at 12.30 p.m. The applicant’s lawyer failed to arrive on time to the court and the justice of the peace heard the applicant’s case in his lawyer’s absence. The justice of the peace found the applicant guilty as charged and sentenced him to five days’ imprisonment. The applicant appealed.
On 12 September 2018 the Syktyvkar Town Court upheld the applicant’s conviction on appeal reducing his sentence to three days’ imprisonment. The court’s attempts to contact the applicant’s lawyer by telephone to summon him to the appeal hearing were unsuccessful. The court heard the case in the absence of the applicant’s lawyer.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains under Article 5 of the Convention that his arrest and detention were not “lawful” or “in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law”.
The applicant complains under Article 6 of the Convention about the domestic courts’ failure to ensure his lawyer’s participation in the administrative proceedings.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Were the applicant’s arrest and detention “lawful” and “in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law” as required by Article 5 § 1 of the Convention (see Navalnyy and Yashin v. Russia, no. 76204/11, §§ 89-98, 4 December 2014; and Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 119-24, 10 April 2018)?
2. Was the applicant able to defend himself through legal assistance of his own choosing, as required by Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (c) of the Convention (see Dvorski v. Croatia [GC], no. 25703/11, §§ 76-111, ECHR 2015)?
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