issued by the Registrar of the Court
ECHR 242 (2022)
12.07.2022
Judgments of 12 July 2022
The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing four judgments1:
two Chamber judgments are summarised below;
two Committee judgments, concerning issues which have already been submitted to the Court, can
The judgment in French below is indicated with an asterisk (*).
Kotlyar v. Russia (application no. 38825/16)
The applicant, Tatyana Mikhaylovna Kotlyar, is a Russian national who was born in 1951 and lives in
Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia. She is a human-rights defender, providing legal advice and social
assistance to migrants from other republics of the former Soviet Union.
The case concerns the applicant’s prosecution under a new law introduced in January 2014 for
having falsely registered her flat as the place of residence of hundreds of foreign nationals – who
were not actually living there – so that they could apply for Russian citizenship. She submitted that
her actions were a form of civil disobedience to raise awareness about the urgent problem of
housing people who resettled in Russia. She was convicted twice, while another set of proceedings
against her were discontinued.
Relying on Article 7 (no punishment without law) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the
applicant complains that she was tried for acts that did not constitute a criminal offence at the time
at which they had been committed.
Also relying on Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention, she alleges that the
criminal proceedings against her were intended to stifle her standing up for migrants’ rights and
expressing an opinion on a systemic social problem.
Violation of Article 7 on account of the applicant’s conviction for the acts of “fictitious residence
registration” carried out before 3 January 2014
Just satisfaction:
non-pecuniary damage: 6,000 euros (EUR)
costs and expenses: the Court rejected the applicant’s claim for costs and expenses
Krivtsova v. Russia (no. 35802/16)*
The applicant, Nina Krivtsova, is a Russian national who was born in 1942 and lives in Volgograd,
Russia.
The case concerns the voiding of the applicant’s title to a plot of land, without compensation,
following a decision handed down on appeal by the Volgograd Regional Court on 7 May 2015.
1
Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, Chamber judgments are not final. During the three-month period following a 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.
