THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 52151/09
Nikolay Mikhaylovich SHAPENKOV against Russia
and 19 other applications
(see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 19 May 2020 as a Committee composed of:
Alena Poláčková, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Gilberto Felici, judges,
and Olga Chernishova, 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 applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
1. The applicants are Russian nationals living in various regions of the Russian Federation. Their personal details appear in the appended table.
2. The Russian Government ("the Government") were represented initially by Mr G. Matyushkin, the Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Court of Human Rights, and then by his successor in that office, Mr M. Galperin.
3. On various dates between 2008 and 2016 the applicants were criminally prosecuted and convicted of various offences under the Russian legislation in force. The particulars of the relevant domestic proceedings are presented in the appended table.
COMPLAINTS
4. The applicants complained under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention that they were not provided an opportunity to examine the prosecution witnesses during trial.
THE LAW
5. The Court considers that in accordance with Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications listed in the appended table should be joined.
6. The respondent Government in their observations argued that applicants had had fair hearings in the determination of the criminal charges against them in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.
7. Certain applicants disagreed, while the others did not provide specific arguments.
8. The Court has carefully examined the applications listed in the appended table and concluded that, in the light of the Court’s primary concern under Article 6 § 1 to evaluate the overall fairness of the criminal proceedings (see Al-Khawaja and Tahery v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 26766/05 and 22228/06, § 118, ECHR 2011, and Schatschaschwili v. Germany [GC], no. 9154/10, § 101, ECHR 2015), the presumption that in principle the Russian legal system offers robust procedural guarantees securing the right of an accused to examine witnesses testifying against him, ensuring that the reading out of absent witnesses’ testimony is possible only as an exception (see Zadumov v. Russia, no. 2257/12, § 63, 12 December 2017, recently reiterated in Kiba and Others v. Russia (dec.) [Committee], nos. 38047/08 and 2 others, § 16, 17 April 2018), the material in its possession, and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, the applications are manifestly ill-founded, and thus must be rejected in accordance with 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 18 June 2020.
Olga ChernishovaAlena Poláčková
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Appendix
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant name
Year of birth
Place of residence
Nationality
Represented by
Date of the trial and appeal courts’ judgments
Convicted of
Absent prosecution witness
1
52151/09
18/09/2009
Nikolay Mikhaylovich SHAPENKOV
1966
Vladivostok
Russian
Marina Nikolayevna KOMAROVA
Pervomayskiy District Court of Vladivostok
05/11/2008
Primorskiy Regional Court
02/04/2009
Convicted of murder
Mr Sh., Mr Zh., Mr D., Mr A., Mr Ch., Mr I.
2
57248/11
30/08/2011
Dmitriy Olegovich
LOGINOV
1976
St Petersburg
Russian
Ulrich SOMMER
Tsentralnyy District Court
of Sochi of the Krasnodar Region
30/12/2010
Krasnodar Regional Court
02/03/2011
Convicted of fraud in conspiracy
Ms K., Ms T., Mr K., Mr Sh., Mr S., Ms M., Ms V., Mr Kh., Ms S., Ms Kaz., Mr Shir., Mr V., Mr B., Mr A., Mr P., Mr L., Mr Kor., Mr N., Mr Ch., Ms A., Ms B.
3
72027/11
26/10/2011
Andrey Valeryanovich KHAKIMOV
1986
Chelyabinsk
Russian
Adakham Ismailovich NURAKHMETOV
Sovetskiy District Court
of Chelyabinsk
02/03/2011
Chelyabinsk Regional Court
27/05/2011
Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that lead to the death of the victim in conspiracy
Mr S., Ms S.
4
4761/12
20/12/2011
Sergey Vladimirovich SHIMKEVICH
1958
Moscow
Russian
Dorogomilovskiy District Court of Moscow
26/04/2011
Moscow City Court
18/07/2011
Convicted of embezzlement in conspiracy
Ms K., Mr Ko., Ms S., Ms T., Ms U., Mr Ka.
5
6175/12
18/01/2012
Y.V.Y.
1960
Tver
Russian
Lidiya Konstantinovna NOVOSELSKAYA
Balashikhskiy Town Court
of the Moscow Region
30/03/2011
Moscow Regional Court
19/07/2011
Convicted of sexual assault
Ms Sh.
6
7528/12
24/12/2011
Vladimir Viktorovich MARCHENKO
1972
Beshpagir
Russian
Yuriy Alekseyevich LIPIN
Promyshlennyy District Court of Saratov
03/05/2011
Stavropol Regional Court
05/10/2011
Convicted of attempted drug dealing in conspiracy
Mr G., Mr R.
7
9683/12
20/01/2012
Vladimir Gennadyevich FEDOTOV
1976
Ulyanovsk
Russian
Yekaterina Viktorovna YEFREMOVA
Naro-Fominskiy Town Court of the Moscow Region
10/08/2011
Moscow Regional Court
14/02/2017
Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that lead to the death of the victim
Mr Sh.
8
10397/12
14/01/2012
Gevorg Ashotovich MIRIDZHANYAN
1987
Moscow
Russian
Izmaylovskiy District Court of Moscow
01/07/2011
Moscow City Court
22/08/2011
Convicted of attempted drug dealing
Mr K.
9
10481/12
23/01/2012
Valentin Yakovlevich ZAVODNOV
1947
Abinsk
Russian
Abinskiy District Court
of the Krasnodar Region
05/10/2011
Krasnodar Regional Court
23/11/2011
Convicted of abuse of authority
Ms Z.
10
10588/12
27/01/2012
Vladimir Nikolayevich SHAGALOV
1972
Sheksna
Russian
Valentina Yevgenyevna ASEYEVA
Cherepovetskiy Town Court of the Vologda Region
22/06/2011
Vologda Regional Court
09/08/2011
Convicted of illegal storage of drugs without intent to sell and of several counts of attempted drug dealing
Mr St., Mr So.
11
14342/12
24/02/2012
Mariya Aleksandrovna BELYAYEVA
1980
Peresvet
Russian
Norayr Georgiyevich SHAKHNAZAROV
Sergiyevo-Posadskiy Town Court of the Moscow Region
06/09/2011
Moscow Regional Court
17/11/2011
Convicted of illegal acquisition and storage of drugs without intent to sell and of drug dealing
Mr N.
12
14929/12
15/01/2012
Dmitriy Dmitriyevich PIKULENKO
1970
Lyubertsy
Russian
Voskresenskiy Town Court of the Moscow Region
24/03/2011
Moscow Regional Court
06/09/2011
Convicted of attempted drug dealing
Ms Ch.
13
1527/14
29/11/2013
Anton Konstantinovich KUZNETSOV
1985
Lukhovitsy
Russian
Yekaterina Ivanovna KUZNETSOVA
Kashirskiy Town Court
of the Moscow Region
18/12/2012
Moscow Regional Court
30/05/2013
Convicted of aggravated assault in conspiracy
Mr F., Ms P., Mr T., Ms Tch., Ms B., Ms L., Mr B.
14
74543/14
13/11/2014
Igor Vasilyevich ZOTOV
1965
Moscow
Russian
Anita Vitalyevna AGEYEVA
Tverskoy District Court
of Moscow
15/08/2013
Moscow City Court
16/05/2014
Convicted of misappropriation and several counts of embezzlement
Ms I.
15
1365/15
08/12/2014
Veronika Anatolyevna MALYGINA
1991
Moscow
Russian
Babushkinskiy District Court of Moscow
29/04/2014
Moscow City Court
18/06/2014
Convicted of attempted drug dealing and preparation for drug dealing
Mr K.
16
3329/15
20/12/2014
Dmitriy Vladimirovich SIURKO
1977
Novosibirsk
Russian
Leninskiy District Court
of Novosibirsk
26/03/2014
Novosibirsk Regional Court
16/06/2014
Convicted of fraud and attempted fraud in conspiracy
Ms L., Ms Sh., Mr B., Mr K., Ms K., Mr Ts.
17
14118/15
25/06/2014
Mark Viktorovich BELMASOV
1984
Pakino
Russian
Kovrovskiy Town Court
of the Vladimir Region
19/11/2013
Vladimir Regional Court
27/01/2014
Convicted of drug dealing and attempted drug dealing
Mr S.
18
16272/15
28/03/2015
Mikhail Valentinovich SAVVA
1964
Krasnodar
Russian
Marina Alekseyevna DUBROVINA
Pervomayskiy District Court of Krasnodar
02/04/2014
Krasnodar Regional Court
30/09/2014
Convicted of fraud in conspiracy
Ms R.
19
22129/16
19/04/2016
Vadim Yuryevich GRINKOV
1980
Sterlitamak
Russian
Sergey Aleksandrovich GOLUBOK
St Petersburg City Court
22/06/2015
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation
18/11/2015
Convicted of robbery in conspiracy
Ms N.
20
54921/16
01/09/2016
Maksim Mikhaylovich DRYNKIN
1979
Balashov
Russian
Yuriy Vasilyevich SHCHADIN
Kalininskiy District Court
of the Saratov Region
14/12/2015
Saratov Regional Court
15/03/2016
Convicted of forgery of evidence in a criminal case
Mr K.
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