Published on 15 April 2024
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 67357/17
Artem Aleksandrovich TORCHINSKIY and Others against Russia
and 3 other applications
(see list appended)
PROCEDURAL INFORMATION
Following a preliminary examination of the admissibility of the applications on 21 March 2024, the Court decided, under Rule 54 § 2 (b) of the Rules of Court, that notice of the applications should be given to the Government of Russia.
In the applications marked by an asterisk, other complaints were raised. This part of the applications has been struck out of the Court’s list of cases or declared inadmissible by the Court, sitting in a single-judge formation, assisted by a rapporteur as provided for in Article 24 § 2 of the Convention.
In the enclosed list of applications, whenever an applicant is referred to using initials, this indicates that the Court has authorised anonymity for that person, whose identity will not be disclosed to the public (Rule 47 § 4).
For further information on the procedure following communication of an application brought against Russia, subject of well-established case law of the Court, please refer to the Court’s website.
SUBJECT MATTER
The applications concern complaints raised under Article 3 of the Convention relating to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment which are the subject of well-established case law of the Court (see Lyapin v. Russia, no. 46956/09, §§ 128-40, 24 July 2014 and Samesov v. Russia, no. 57269/14, §§ 54-63, 20 November 2018).
APPENDIX – STATEMENT OF FACTS
List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(torture or inhuman or degrading treatment)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Factual information
Medical evidence of ill-treatment
Date of first complaint
Decision issued in response to complaint of ill-treatment
Decision under Article 125 of the CCrP
Appeal decision
Information relating to conviction
Other complaints under well-established case-law
67357/17*
19/08/2017
Artem Aleksandrovich TORCHINSKIY
1979
Aleksey Anatolyevich NAVALNYY
1976
Deceased in 2024
Yevgeniy Mikhaylovich ZAMYATIN
1989
Ivan Yuryevich ZHDANOV
1988
Konstantin Ilyich Terekhov
Moscow
On 17/05/2016 the applicants, members of A. Navalnyy’s opposition group, were attacked by a group of up to 40 men near the Anapa railway station. The men punched and kicked the applicants and shouted insults at them. The incident took place in the presence of the police, who stood by and did not intervene. Calls by the applicants and their colleagues for the police to intervene and stop the beating went unanswered. The video of the incident was filmed by the applicants’ colleagues and posted on the Internet. Its content showed that the attack had been organised and instigated by Mr N.N.
First applicant (Mr Torchinskiy): certificate issued by City Clinical Hospital No. 13 dated 18/05/2016: bruised wound to the right side of the supraorbital arch;
Second applicant (Mr Navalnyy): certificate issued by City Clinical Hospital No. 13 dated 18/05/2016: soft tissue contusion, bruising of the right shoulder;
Third applicant (Mr Zamyatin): certificate issued by City Clinical Hospital No. 13 dated 18/05/2016: soft facial, head, left thigh contusion;
Fourth applicant (Mr Zhdanov): certificate issued by City Clinical Hospital No. 13 dated 18/05/ 2016: soft tissue contusion of the head, upper and lower extremities.
On 19/05/2016 the applicants complained to the Krasnodar Region police headquarters/On 05/10/2016 the police refused to open a criminal case, but the applicants were not informed of that decision. Therefore, on 13/10/2016 the applicants challenged the authorities’ inaction before the Anapa Town Court which refused to examine the complaint stating that a decision had been issued by the police/On 21/02/2017 tats decision was upheld by the Krasnodar Regional Court.
On 09/01/2017 the applicants appealed against the refusal to the Anapa Town Court/On 18/01/2017 the court refused to consider the complaint on procedural grounds: the applicants had failed to properly certify copies of the refusal/On 04/04/2017 the Krasnodar Regional Court upheld that decision.
19338/20*
08/04/2020
Lyubov Aleksandrovna KULYAMINA
1957
Larisa Valentinovna Alferova
Perm
On 12/05/2018 the applicant’s late son Mr Kulyamin, who had suffered from HIV, was arrested by the police for drug trafficking. The arresting officers subjected him to beatings and kicks on various parts of the body. On 13/08/2019 he was convicted of drug trafficking.
On 15/10/2019 he was transferred from prison to a civilian hospital where he died on 16/10/2019 from complications of HIV and tuberculosis.
On 18/10/2019 the conviction was vacated on appeal by the Perm Regional Court due to Mr Kulyamin’s death.
Medical certificate of 12/05/2018 by the Trauma department of the Medical Unit No.7: dorsopathy [illegible], left ulnar bursitis.
On 13/05/2018 upon the arrival at the remand prison, the applicant was subjected to medical examination, which found the following: contusion of the left arm, bruises on the right thigh and left leg, complaints of back pain.
On 12/05/2018 the medical unit of the remand prison informed the Perm Regional Investigative Committee of the applicant’s traumas as a result of ill-treatment/On 29/06/2018, 01/07/2018, and 29/12/2018 refusals to open a criminal case were issued.
The applicant appealed against the last refusal to the Ordzhonikidze District Court in Perm, which on 28/08/2019 left it without examination as the applicant’s conviction was not yet finalised/On 17/10/2019 that decision was upheld on appeal by the Perm Regional Court. Meanwhile, Mr Kulyamin died on 16/10/2019.
On 13 August 2019 the Ordzhenikidzevskiy District Court in Perm convicted Mr Kulyamin of aggravated drug trafficking and sentenced him to 17 years and two months of imprisonment.
14321/21*
09/03/2021
David Aleksandrovich FRENKEL
1991
Olga Vladimirovna Karacheva
St Petersburg
The applicant is a journalist of an independent media “Mediazona”. On 30/06/2020 he arrived at a polling station in St Petersburg where voting for the amendments to the Constitution was held. He was dragged by a police officer, who twisted his arm, out of the polling station as he had allegedly encroached upon the voting.
Discharge summary issued on 30/06/2000 by the St Petersburg Emergency Care Research Institute: closed fracture of the lower third of the right humerus with dislocation of the fragments
On 30/06/2020 complaint to the Investigating Committee/On 29/07/2020, 20/10/2020 and 14/12/2000 refusals to open a criminal case for the lack of corpus delicti in the actions of the police officer/Each refusal overruled by the investigators superiors as unlawful and premature.
The applicant appealed against the refusals to the Dzerzhinskiy District Court in St Petersburg, which on 17/08/2021 dismissed his complaint against the last refusal as the impugned decision had been overruled by the investigators’ superiors and a new inquiry ordered.
Art. 10 (1) – freedom to receive and impart information/ideas - the purpose of the use of force and bringing the applicant to administrative liability was interference with his journalist activity, with his freedom to collect and impart information; unlawful and disproportionate interference (similar to Butkevich v. Russia, no. 5865/07, 13 February 2018).
Neither the proportionality nor the necessity of the use of force against the applicant were duly examined by either the investigators or the domestic courts.
41822/23
15/11/2023
Yekaterina Andreyevna BUSHKOVA
1997
Danil Ilnurovich Nurgaleyev
Kazan
On 17/01/2021 the applicant arrived at Vnukovo airport to meet the plane carrying A. Navalnyy, who was returning to Russia after medical treatment in Germany. At 6.30 p.m., police officers grabbed her and dragged her to the police bus. At the entrance to the vehicle, in the presence of at least four witnesses, they pushed her face hard against the handle of the bus, resulting in a blow to the applicant’s face. The applicant was taken to a police station, from where she was hospitalised to Moscow City Hospital No. 1 in the early hours of 18/01/2021.
Medical certificate of 18/01/2021 by Moscow City Hospital No.1: closed craniocerebral trauma, concussion of the brain, subconjunctival haemorrhage of the eye, contusion of soft tissues of the head.
Medical certificate of 18/01/2021 by Moscow Clinical Hospital No.4: Closed craniocerebral trauma, concussion of the brain, subconjunctival haemorrhage of the eye, subcutaneous haematomas of the left knee and left ankle joints.
On 19/01/2021 complaint to the Vnukovo airport police station and on 25/01/2021 complaint to the Moscow Investigative Committee/No response from either body. Then, on 03/02/2023 and then on 15/03/2023 the police issued refusals to open a criminal case stating that the actions of the police officers had been lawful.
On 18/06/2021 the applicant challenged the authorities’ inaction before the Dorogomilovskiy District Court in Moscow / On 25/10/2021 the court dismissed the complaint as the applicant’s complaints to the authorities had never been registered/On 16/12/2021 the Moscow City Court upheld this decision. On 01/04/2022 the applicant further challenged the authorities’ inaction before the Dorogomilovskiy District Court, arguing that the authorities had become aware of the circumstances of her ill-treatment during the previous proceedings/On 14/03/2023, the court dismissed the complaint on the same grounds.
The applicant appealed against both refusals to the Solntsevskiy District Court in Moscow/on 01/06/2023 the court rejected the last complaint as unsubstantiated/On 17/07/2023 the Moscow City Court upheld this decision.