THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 55690/19
Valentina Gennadyevna ROGOZINA and Others against Russia
and 10 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 25 August 2022 as a Committee composed of:
Darian Pavli, President,
Andreas Zünd,
Mikhail Lobov, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
The applicants complained of their or their relative’s (a detainee) allocation or transfer to a remote penal facility irrespective of family life considerations. In some of the applications, complaints based on the same facts were also communicated under other provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
Joinder of the applicationsHaving regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
Alleged violations of Articles 8 and 13 of the ConventionThe applicants complained of their or their relative’s (a detainee) allocation or transfer to a remote penal facility irrespective of family life considerations. They relied on Articles 8 and 13 of the Convention, which read, in so far as relevant, as follows:
Article 8
“1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life ...
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”
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.”
The Court reiterates that in its recent decisions of Dadusenko and Others v. Russia ((dec.), no. 36027/19 and 3 others, 7 September 2021) and Tamamshev and Others v. Russia ((dec.) [Committee], nos. 57368/19 and 59831/19, §§ 22-23, 7 September 2021), it has accepted that the Russian Code of Execution of Criminal Sentences (the “CES”) as amended on 1 April 2020 (effective as of 29 September 2020) provided for an effective remedy for the complaints about the breaches of Article 8 of the Convention, as regards allocation or transfer of prisoners to a remote penal facility irrespective of family life considerations, and, having dismissed those complaints for the applicants’ failure to exhaust a new remedy, it has declared that it will apply that approach to all similar applications pending before the Court (see Dadusenko and Others, cited above, §§ 25-34).
Having examined all the material before it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility of these complaints. It therefore considers that, in so far as the applicants have lodged prima facie well-founded complaints, the amended CES affords them an opportunity to obtain adequate redress by lodging a transfer request with the Federal Service of Execution of Sentences and/or challenging the proportionality of the refusal of transfer in court. Accordingly, the applicants should exhaust this remedy before their complaints can be examined by the Court. It follows that these complaints under Article 8 of the Convention should be declared inadmissible pursuant to Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.
The Court has found above that the applicants have an effective remedy at their disposal which they have been required to use for the purpose of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention. Accordingly, their complaints under Article 13 of the Convention must be rejected as being manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 15 September 2022.
Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 8 § 1 of the Convention
(allocation or transfer to a remote penal facility irrespective of family life considerations)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Detention facility
Family member
Place of residence of the family member
Approximate distance between the facility and the place of residence of the family members
(in km)
Other complaints under
well-established case-law
55690/19
14/10/2019
(4 applicants)
Valentina Gennadyevna ROGOZINA
1957
Svetlana Gennadyevna MITROFANOVA
1960
Viktor Nikolayevich ROGOZIN
1977
Karina Viktorovna ROGOZINA
2004
IK-18 Yamalo-Nenetskiy Region
the first applicant is the mother of the fourth applicant who is a detainee, the second applicant is the aunt of the fourth applicant; the third applicant is the daughter of the fourth applicant
Shumikha, Kurgan Region
2,500
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote colony
13633/20
25/02/2020
Pavel Nikolayevich YEMANOV
1976
IK-6 Orenburg Region
The applicant is a detainee, his relative is his mother
Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk Region
4,000
16644/20
16/03/2020
Viktor Ellinovich LOGVINENKO
1970
IK-2 OIK-2 Perm Region
The applicant is a detainee, his relative is his
sister
Khabarovsk
7,000
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony
21255/20
14/04/2020
Vitaliy Nikolayevich MOROZOV
1969
IK-18 Yamalo-Nenetskiy Region
The applicant is a detainee, his brother is the sole relative, the applicant’s parents were stripped of parental rights; the applicant and his brother were placed in an orphanage; the applicant enclosed letters from his brother
Kazan, Tatarstan Republic
2,500
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony
27321/20
26/05/2020
Dmitriy Leonidovich LUKHTAN
1983
IK-2 Perm Region
The applicant is a detainee, his relatives are: mother, brother, grandmother
Belgorod Region
3,000
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony
29596/20
07/04/2020
Aleksey Mingishevich KHABBASOV
1980
IK-18 Yamalo-Nenetskiy Region
The applicant is a detainee, his relatives are: mother, father, sister
Orenburg Region
2,500
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony
39823/20
18/08/2020
(7 applicants)
Tatyana Mingishevna POKOLEVA
1988
Marina Mingishevna BERTLYUYEVA
1976
Mingish Khasanovich KHABBASOV
1940
Alla Alekseyevna KHABBASOVA
1985
Yelena Grigoryevna KHABBASOVA
1948
Lidiya Mingisheva MRYASOVA
1971
Natalya Mingishevna SLYAVCHINOVA
1978
IK-2 OIK-2 Perm Region, IK-6 Khabarovsk Region, IK-18 Yamalo-Nenetskiy Region
The applicants are all relatives (parents, sisters, wives, children) of 3 detainees
Orenburg Region
<2,000
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony
50607/20
21/10/2020
Izosim Sergeyevich TIMOFEYEV
1993
Valentina Petrovna TIMOFEYEVA
1945
IK-18 Yamalo-Nenetskiy Region
The second applicant is the grandmother of the first applicant
Volgograd Region
3,400
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony
51247/20
19/10/2020
Denis Vyacheslavovich KRYTSYN
1983
IK-18 Yamalo Nenetskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug
The applicant is a detainee, his relative is his mother
Shakhty, Rostov Region
5,000
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony
3238/21
01/12/2020
Galina Nikolayevna VATKINA
1951
Sergey Viktorovich VATKIN
1970
IK-6 Khabarovsk Region
The first applicant is the mother of the second applicant, a detainee
Radishchev, Irkutsk Region
3,000
8397/21
11/01/2020
Albina Vladimirovna POLICHEVA
1969
IK-56 Sverdlovsk Region
The applicant is the mother of a detainee
Irkutsk
3,000
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of allocation to a remote correctional colony