FIRST SECTION

CASE OF ZHMYREV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Applications nos. 69927/17 and 12 others –

see appended list)

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGMENT
 

STRASBOURG

12 September 2024

 

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.


In the case of Zhmyrev and Others v. Russia,

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

 Péter Paczolay, President,
 Gilberto Felici,
 Raffaele Sabato, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 11 July 2024,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

PROCEDURE

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

  1. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS

5.  Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.

  1. JURISDICTION

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, §§ 6873, 17 January 2023).

  1. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 11 OF THE CONVENTION

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 2006XIV, 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, and having taken into account the issue of compliance with the six-month time-limit under Article 35 § 1 of the Convention (see Saakashvili v. Georgia (dec.), nos. 6232/20 and 22394/20, §§ 46-59, 1 March 2022, in which the Court addressed the COVID-related extension of the period in question), 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.

  1. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW

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 (CAO); Tomov and Others v. Russia, nos. 18255/10 and 5 others, §§ 114-56, 9 April 2019, as regards the conditions of transport of detainees and the lack of effective domestic remedies thereof; Lashmankin and Others v. Russia, nos. 57818/09 and 14 others, §§ 402-78, 7 February 2017, regarding restrictions on location or time of public events; 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.

  1. REMAINING COMPLAINTS

14.  Some applicants raised further additional complaints. In view of the findings in paragraphs 11 and 13 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints.

  1. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

15.  Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its caselaw (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,

  1. Decides to join the applications;
  2. Holds that it has jurisdiction to deal with these applications as they relate to facts that took place before 16 September 2022;
  3. Declares the complaints under Article 11 of the Convention and the other complaints under the well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and finds that there is no need to examine separately the remaining complaints under of the Convention;
  4. Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention;
  5. Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention and the Protocols thereto as regards the other complaints raised under the well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table);
  6. Holds

(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 12 September 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

 Viktoriya Maradudina Péter Paczolay
 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)

No.

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 caselaw

Amount awarded for pecuniary and nonpecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant

(in euros)[1]

  1.    

69927/17

07/09/2017

Dmitriy Vladimirovich ZHMYREV

1989

 

 

 

Anti-corruption rally

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Rally in support of A. Navalnyy’s Presidential Candidacy

 

Moscow

 

08/07/2017

article 19.3 § 1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

detention for 10 days

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

Moscow City Court

03/04/2017

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

28/08/2018

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - (1) escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 6.40 p.m. on 26/03/2017 until 28/03/2017, when the applicant was taken to the court; (2) escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report from 4.10 p.m. until 6.20 p.m. on 08/07/2017;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the 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

  1.    

73551/17

02/09/2017

(8 applicants)

Mark Izrailevich GALPERIN

1968

 

Elin Malikovich CHICHLINSKIY

1989

 

Igor Alekseyevich KLOCHKOV

1972

 

Sofya Yuryevna KUZMINA

1994

 

Mariya Aleksandrovna RYABIKOVA

1974

 

Maksim Sergeyevich SOLDATOV

1987

 

Gafira Vladimirovna STEKLOVA

1997

 

Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich

Moscow

Anti-corruption rally

(Mr Galperin)

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Anti-corruption rally

(Mr Klochkov)

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Anti-corruption rally

(Ms Kuzmina)

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Anti-corruption rally

(Ms Ryabikova)

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Anti-corruption rally

(Mr Soldatov)

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Anti-corruption rally

(Ms Steklova)

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Anti-corruption rally (Mr Chichlinskiy)

 

Moscow

 

26/03/2017

 

 

Rally to call for fair elections to Mosgorduma (Mr Galperin)

 

Moscow

 

31/08/2019

article 19.3 § 1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2

§ 6.1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 19.3 § 1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 8 of CAO

detention for 15 days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 15,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

detention for 10 days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 20,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

detention for 10 days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 15,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

detention for 30 days

Moscow City Court

06/04/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

28/06/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

29/03/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

14/07/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

18/04/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

30/06/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

18/08/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

05/09/2019

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - (1) escorting to and detention at the police station of Mr Galperin after compiling an offence report from 2 p.m. on 01/04/2017 until 10 a.m. on 03/04/2017;

(2) escorting to and detention at the police station of Ms Kuzmina after compiling an offence report from 6.50 p.m. on 26/03/2017 until the court hearing on 27/03/2017;

(3) escorting to the police station of Mr Klochkov, Ms Ryabikova, Mr Soldatov, Ms Steklova, Mr Chichlinskiy for compiling an offence report on 26/03/2017;

(4) escorting to the police station of Mr Galperin for compiling an offence report at 1.25 p.m. on 03/09/2019;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in all sets of administrative-offence proceedings in respect of the applicants, except for Mr Chichlinskiy

 

 

3,000

(Mr Galperin)

 

5,000

(Mr Chichlinskiy)

 

5,000

(Mr Klochkov)

 

3,000

(Ms Kuzmina)

 

5,000

(Ms Ryabikova)

 

5,000

(Mr Soldatov)

 

5,000

(Ms Steklova)

  1.    

291/18

07/12/2017

 

 

 

and

 

 

28958/19

13/05/2019

Yevgeniy Olegovich GOLIGOROV

1993

 

Glukhov Aleksey Vladimirovich

Novocheboksarsk

 

 

 

 

 

Karavayev Aleksandr Yevgenyevich

Nizhniy Novgorod

Anti-corruption rally

 

Nizhniy Novgorod

 

26/03/2017

 

Protest against retirement age hike

 

Nizhniy Novgorod

 

09/09/2018

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

 

detention for 14 days

Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court

15/06/2017

 

 

 

Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court

14/11/2018

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report on 26/03/2017;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings.

5,000

  1.    

49968/18

10/10/2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and

 

 

29671/20

13/07/2020

Nikolay Yuryevich DYACHKOV

1991

 

Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich

Vilnius

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

Opposition rally

 

Ivanovo

 

05/05/2018

 

 

Rally against retirement age hike

 

Ivanovo

 

09/09/2018

 

 

Rally to call for fair elections to Mosgorduma

 

Moscow

 

27/07/2019

article 20.2 § 1 CAO

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 8 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 15,000

 

 

 

 

100 hours of community work

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

Ivanovo Regional Court

28/08/2018

 

 

 

Ivanovo Regional Court

15/01/2019

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

02/12/2019

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report on 14/09/2018 and 27/07/2019;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in all sets of administrative-offence proceedings;

 

Art. 11 (1) - restrictions on location, time or manner of conduct of public events - refusal by the Ivanovo Town administration to approve the location and date of the Voters’ strike as part of nationwide protest action on 28/01/2018 (final decision was taken by the Supreme Court of Russia on 17/09/2018).

4,000

  1.    

13561/19

27/02/2019

Leonid Sergeyevich YARYGIN

1989

 

 

 

Opposition rally

 

Tambov

 

05/05/2018

article 20.2 § 8 of CAO

fine of RUB 300,000

Tambov Regional Court

10/10/2018

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 4.10 p.m. on 09/09/2018 until 8.30 a.m. on 10/09/2018;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings.

7,000

  1.    

30657/19

28/05/2019

Oleg Olegovich STEPANOV

1992

 

Pomazuyev Aleksandr Yevgenyevich

Vilnius

Political rally

 

Moscow

 

29/07/2018

 

 

Protest against retirement age hike

 

Moscow

 

09/09/2018

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 2 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 20,000

Moscow City Court

12/12/2018

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

14/03/2019

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings.

3,500

  1.    

43813/19

04/08/2019

Dmitriy Aleksandrovich IVANOV

1999

 

Yelanchik Oleg Aleksandrovich

Moscow

Opposition rally

 

Moscow

 

05/05/2018

 

 

Rally to protest the Novoye Velichiye case

 

Moscow

 

28/10/2018

 

 

Rally in support of Lev Ponomarev

 

Moscow

 

16/12/2018

 

 

Political rally

 

Moscow

 

06/01/2019

 

 

 

Rally to support Azat Miftakhov

 

Moscow

 

02/03/2019

 

 

Rally to support Ivan Golunov

 

Moscow

 

12/06/2019

article 19.3 § 1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 8 of CAO

fine of RUB 1,000

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 15,000

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 150,000

Moscow City Court

04/02/2019

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

06/02/2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

14/03/2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

22/05/2019

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

04/04/2019

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

16/09/2019

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - (1) escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report on 05/05/2018, 28/10/2018 and 16/12/2018;

(2) escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 4.40 p.m. on 02/03/2019 until 4 p.m. on 04/03/2019, and from 5 p.m. on 12/06/2019 until 10.35 a.m. on 14/06/2019;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in all sets of administrative-offence proceedings.

6,000

  1.    

57852/19

17/08/2015

Mark Izrailevich GALPERIN

1968

 

Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich

Moscow

Political rally

 

Moscow

 

16/08/2014

 

 

Political rally

 

Moscow

 

17/07/2019

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 5 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 8 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

detention for 30 days

Moscow City Court

18/03/2015

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

02/08/2019

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 11.20 a.m. until the court hearing on 24/07/2019;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings.

-

  1.    

13165/20

26/02/2020

Marina Alekseyevna LITVINOVICH

1974

 

Zakhar Yuryevich KHASANOV

1992

 

Mezak Ernest Aleksandrovich

Saint-Barthélemy-d’Anjou

Rally to support Ivan Golunov (both applicants)

 

Moscow

 

12/06/2019

article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 10.000 (both applicants)

Moscow City Court 26/08/2019

(both applicants)

 

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report on 12/06/2019 (both applicants);

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings (both applicants).

4,000

(Ms Litvinovich)

 

4,000

(Mr Khasanov)

  1.  

13768/20

24/02/2020

Yulia Dmitriyevna BARINOVA

1982

 

Lyaysan Rafatovna ZAMALETDINOVA

1988

 

Mezak Ernest Aleksandrovich

Saint-Barthélemy-d’Anjou

Rally to support Ivan Golunov

(Ms Barinova)

 

Moscow

 

12/06/2019

 

 

Rally to support Ivan Golunov

(Ms Zamaletdinova)

 

Moscow

 

12/06/2019

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 10,000

 

Moscow City Court

20/11/2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

14/11/2019

 

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 3 p.m. until 10.45 p.m. (Ms Barinova) and from 3 p.m. until 11.20 p.m. (Ms Zamaletdinova) on 12/06/2019;

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings (both applicants).

4,000

(Ms Barinova)

 

4,000

(Ms Zamaletdinova)

 

 

  1.  

14046/20

05/03/2020

Vladimir Nikolayevich ALESHKIN

1989

 

Ilya Vyacheslavovich LVOV

1998

 

Eysmont Mariya Olegovna

Moscow

Rally to support Ivan Golunov

(Mr Aleshkin)

 

Moscow

 

12/06/2019

 

 

Rally to support Ivan Golunov

(Mr Lvov)

 

Moscow

 

12/06/2019

article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

article 20.2 § 8 of CAO

fine of RUB 20,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

fine of RUB 200,000

Moscow City Court

06/09/2019

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moscow City Court

06/09/2019

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report on 12/06/2019 (both applicants);

 

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings (both applicants)

4,000

(Mr Aleshkin)

 

6,000

(Mr Lvov)

 

 


[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.