FIRST SECTION
CASE OF CHURSIN AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 38648/21 and 18 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
11 April 2024
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Chursin and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Lətif Hüseynov, President,
Ivana Jelić,
Erik Wennerström, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 21 March 2024,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
1. The case originated in applications against Russia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.
2. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained of the disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies. They also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
6. The Court observes that the facts giving rise to the alleged violations of the Convention occurred prior to 16 September 2022, the date on which the Russian Federation ceased to be a party to the Convention. The Court therefore decides that it has jurisdiction to examine the present applications (see Fedotova and Others v. Russia [GC], nos. 40792/10 and 2 others, §§ 68‑73, 17 January 2023).
7. The applicants complained principally of disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies, namely their arrest in relation to the dispersal of these assemblies and their conviction for administrative offences. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 11 of the Convention.
8. The Court refers to the principles established in its case-law regarding freedom of assembly (see Kudrevičius and Others v. Lithuania [GC], no. 37553/05, ECHR 2015, with further references) and proportionality of interference with it (see Oya Ataman v. Turkey, no. 74552/01, ECHR 2006‑XIV, and Hyde Park and Others v. Moldova, no. 33482/06, 31 March 2009).
9. In the leading cases of Frumkin v. Russia, no. 74568/12, ECHR 2016 (extracts), Navalnyy and Yashin v. Russia, no. 76204/11, 4 December 2014, and Kasparov and Others v. Russia, no. 21613/07, 3 October 2013, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
10. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion as to the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the interferences with the applicants’ freedom of assembly were not “necessary in a democratic society”.
11. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention.
12. The applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention and its Protocols, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible.
13. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that these complaints also disclose violations of the Convention and its Protocols in the light of its findings in Butkevich v. Russia, no. 5865/07, §§ 63-65, 13 February 2018, Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 115-31, 10 April 2018, and Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, §§ 34-36, 8 October 2019, as to various aspects of unlawful deprivation of liberty of organisers or participants of public assemblies; Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08, §§ 58-85, 20 September 2016, concerning the absence of a prosecuting party in the proceedings under the Code of Administrative Offences (the CAO); and Martynyuk v. Russia, no. 13764/15, §§ 38-42, 8 October 2019, relating to the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal against the sentence of administrative detention.
14. Some applicants raised further additional complaints under Article 6 of the Convention concerning other aspects of fairness of the administrative‑offence proceedings. In view of the findings in paragraphs 10‑11 and 13 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints.
15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see in particular Navalnyy and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 25809/17 and 14 others, § 22, 4 October 2022), the Court finds it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;
(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 11 April 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Lətif Hüseynov
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 11 of the Convention
(disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies)
Application no. Date of introduction | Applicant’s name Year of birth
| Representative’s name and location | Name of the public event Location Date | Administrative / criminal offence | Penalty | Final domestic decision Court Name Date | Other complaints under well-established case-law | Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1] | |
38648/21 15/07/2021 | Aleksandr Ivanovich CHURSIN 1989 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | administrative detention for 13 days | Moscow City Court 08/02/2021 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,
Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - the sentence of administrative detention imposed on the applicant was executed immediately, on account of the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal under the CAO | 5,000 | |
38650/21 15/07/2021 | Valentina Sergeyevna PEREGUDOVA 1990 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally "Free Navalnyy"
Moscow
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | administrative detention of 7 days | Moscow City Court 24/03/2021 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,
Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - the sentence of administrative detention imposed on the applicant was executed immediately, on account of the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal under the CAO | 5,000 | |
55914/21 29/10/2021 | Maksim Vladimirovich POPOV 1991 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally "Free Navalnyy"
Moscow
31/01/2021
| article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Moscow City Court 17/05/2021 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 3,500 | |
61251/21 19/11/2021 | Ruslan Aleksandrovich FOMIN 1984 | Vanslova Yekaterina Nizhniy Novgorod | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Nizhniy Novgorod
23/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 20/05/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 5.00 p.m. to 9.20 p.m. on 23/01/2021,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
61344/21 03/12/2021 | Aleksey Davidovich CHICHINADZE 1989 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
02/02/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 20,000 | Moscow City Court 03/08/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 10.45 a.m. to 8.40 p.m. on 02/02/2021,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
61348/21 03/12/2021 | Natalya Sergeyevna SMILGA 1997 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally "Free Navalnyy"
Moscow
02/02/2021 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Moscow City Court 07/06/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 11.00 p.m. on 02/02/2021 to 3.30 p.m. on 03/02/2021, hearing in the applicant’s administrative-offence case,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
61356/21 03/12/2021 | Dmitriy Sergeyevich ZAVALISHIN 1987 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
23/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Moscow City Court 07/06/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 4.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. on 23/01/2021,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
61727/21 10/12/2021 | Diana Vasilyevna SHARIPOVA 2002 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Nizhniy Novgorod
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 5,000 | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 23/06/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 12.10 p.m. to 7.50 p.m. on 31/01/2021,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
991/22 25/11/2021 | Aleksey Sergeyevich STARKOV 1993 | Usanova Olimpiada Valentinovna Nizhniy Novgorod | Rally "Free Navalnyy"
Nizhniy Novgorod
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 27/05/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 12.30 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. on 31/01/2021, the applicant spent 4h30 in the police van,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
35552/22 28/06/2022 | Ivan Valeryevich TEREKHOV 2000 | Markin Konstantin Aleksandrovich Velikiy Novgorod | Anti-war protest
Velikiy Novgorod
06/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 20,000 | Novgorod Regional Court 22/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 2.20 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. on 06/03/2022,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
36533/22 11/07/2022 | Nikolay Vladimirovich KOMYAGIN 1987 | Loktev Sergey Aleksandrovich St Petersburg | Anti-war protest
St Petersburg
25/02/2022 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 26/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 25/02/2022 to 26/02/2022, hearing in the applicant’s administrative‑offence case,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
39846/22 29/07/2022 | Georgiy Petrovich MIKHAYLOV 1985 | Magomedova Luiza Magomedovna St Petersburg | Anti-war protest
St Petersburg
27/02/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | administrative detention of 10 days | St Petersburg City Court 12/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 8.40 p.m. on 27/02/2022 to 01/03/2022, hearing in the applicant’s administrative-offence case,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
45035/22 24/08/2022 | Irina Nasikhovna MANSUROVA 2001 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Anti-war protest
Yekaterinburg
26/02/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Sverdlovsk Regional Court 18/05/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 3.25 p.m. to 7.25 p.m. on 26/02/2022,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
46493/22 12/09/2022 | Valeriya Vyacheslavovna POYMAKOVA 1998 | Zinovyev Konstantin Mikhaylovich Nizhniy Novgorod | Anti-war protest
Nizhniy Novgorod
06/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 13/05/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 3.10 p.m. on 06/03/2022 to 3.45 p.m. on 07/03/2022, hearing in the applicant’s administrative-offence case,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
47108/22 12/09/2022 | Dmitriy Yuryevich KHVAN 1990 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Anti-war protest
Moscow
24/02/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | Moscow City Court 05/07/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 7.15 p.m. on 24/02/2022 to 1.00 a.m. on 25/02/2022,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
47129/22 14/09/2022 | Aleksandr Sergeyevich GARYAYEV 1991 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Anti-war protest
Yekaterinburg
06/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | 39 hours of community works | Sverdlovsk Regional Court 08/06/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 2.30 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. on 06/03/2022,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 | |
47607/22 14/09/2022 | Nadezhda Sergeyevna SKULKINA 1998 | Zinovyev Konstantin Mikhaylovich Nizhniy Novgorod | Anti-war protest
Nizhniy Novgorod
06/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 25/05/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 3.10 p.m. on 06/03/2022 to 1.00 a.m. on 07/03/2022,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
48748/22 12/09/2022 | Artem Vladimirovich SHKALOV 1992 |
| Anti-war protest
St Petersburg
03/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | fine of RUB 12,000 | St Petersburg City Court 12/05/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 8.30 p.m. on 03/03/2022 to 4.50 p.m. on 06/03/2022, hearing in the applicant’s administrative-offence case,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
50600/22 08/10/2022 | Yekaterina Olegovna STRUTSENKO 1991 | Zyryanova Mariya Sergeyevna St Petersburg | Anti-war protest
St Petersburg
27/02/2022 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | St Petersburg City Court 09/06/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to a police station for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; detention in excess of 3 hours and without “exceptional circumstances”, from 27/02/2022 to 28/02/2022,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
| 4,000 |
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.