Communicated on 20 November 2014
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 51279/09
Aleksey Yuryevich VLASOV
against Russia
lodged on 10 February 2010
STATEMENT OF FACTS
1. The applicant, Mr Aleksey Yuryevich Vlasov, is a Russian national, who was born in 1957 and lives in Moscow.
A. The circumstances of the case
2. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
3. On 6 October 2008 the applicant applied to the Federal Migration Service for a travel passport which would allow him to go abroad.
4. On 27 October 2008 the Golovinskiy District Court of Moscow convicted him of smuggling and sentenced him as follows:
“... the penalty in the form of three years’ imprisonment is not to be enforced and is to be considered conditional with a three years’ probationary period.
To require Mr Alexey Vlasov to report bimonthly during the probationary period to the authority in charge of execution of conditional sentences, and to inform [that authority] of any change of residence ...”
5. On 11 November 2008 his application for a travel passport was rejected by reference to the fact that he had been given a conditional three‑year sentence which had not yet expired.
6. The applicant applied for judicial review of the refusal.
7. On 3 June 2009 the Butyrskiy District Court of Moscow upheld the refusal as lawful, finding that the applicant’s right to travel abroad was restricted on the basis of section 15.4 of the Entry and Exit Procedures Act until such time as his probationary period ended on 14 January 2012.
8. On 18 August 2009 the Moscow City Court rejected an appeal against the District Court’s judgment.
B. Relevant domestic law
9. The Entry and Exit Procedures Act (Law no. 114-FZ of 15 August 1996) provides in particular as follows:
10. The right of a Russian citizen to leave the Russian Federation may be restricted only on the basis of the Act and in accordance with the procedure set out therein (section 2).
11. The right of a Russian citizen to leave the Russian Federation may be temporarily restricted if he or she was convicted. The restriction may be imposed until the penalty has been enforced or until the individual was relieved from serving the penalty (section 15.4).
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 2 § 2 of Protocol No. 4 about a restriction on his right to leave Russia.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
In the light of the Court’s findings in the Nalbantski v. Bulgaria judgment (no. 30943/04, 10 February 2011, §§ 66-67), was there a violation of the applicant’s right to leave Russia under Article 2 of Protocol No. 4? Did the domestic authorities examine his individual situation or explain the need to impose such a measure on him?
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