issued by the Registrar of the Court
ECHR 095 (2020)
17.03.2020
Judgments of 17 March 2020
The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing ten judgments1:
two Chamber judgments are summarised below;
eight Committee judgments, concerning issues which have already been submitted to the Court, can
The judgments in French below are indicated with an asterisk (*).
Kosenko v. Russia (applications nos. 15669/13 and 76140/13)
The applicant, Mikhail Kosenko, is a Russian national who was born in 1975 and lives in Moscow.
The case concerned the applicant’s pre-trial detention after he took part in the Bolotnaya Square
protest in Moscow in May 2012.
The applicant was arrested in June 2012 on suspicion of taking part in mass disorder and using
violence against the police during the protest in Bolotnaya Square, which was a rally of opposition
activists which led to clashes with the police (the Court has issued a number of judgments related to
events that day).
Mr Kosenko, who has schizophrenia and receives a disability pension, was remanded in custody after
his arrest, with the court referring to the seriousness of his offence and the fact that he might
abscond or interfere with the investigation. The pre-trial detention order was extended several
times, with the applicant appealing for alternative preventive measures, such as house arrest or bail.
He was ultimately found guilty of the charges in October 2013 but absolved from criminal liability
owing to mental incapacity. He was committed to a psychiatric hospital, from which he was released
in July 2014. His mother died during his pre-trial detention and he was not able to attend her funeral
because the authorities did not respond to his applications for short-term leave. He was also not
allowed visits from his sister, who was his legal guardian.
During his pre-trial detention he was held for a time in a facility which did not have a hospital ward.
He also received several visits from psychiatrists.
Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on
Human Rights, the applicant complained that he had not received adequate medical assistance for
his psychiatric condition in the first five months of his pre-trial detention.
He also raised complaints about the reasons for his detention in particular under Article 5 § 3 (right
to liberty and security / entitlement to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial).
Under Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) he complained about the restrictions on
family visits and the refusal to give him short-term leave to attend his mother’s funeral.
No violation of Article 3
1
Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, Chamber judgments are not final. During the three-month period following a Chamber
judgment’s delivery, any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a
panel of five judges considers whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and
deliver a final judgment. If the referral request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day. Under Article 28 of the
Convention, judgments delivered by a Committee are final.
Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of its execution.
Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution
