27023/18;55810/19;27134/20;16398/21;38901/21;43714/21;48658/21

THIRD SECTION CASE OF YELMAKOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA (Applications nos. 27023/18 and 6 others – see appended list)             JUDGMENT   STRASBOURG 18 July 2024   This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Yelmakov and Others v. Russia, The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:  Ioannis Ktistakis, President,  Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir,  Diana Kovatcheva, judges, and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 27 June 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 lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of the prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. They also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention and its Protocols. THE LAW 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. 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, §§ 68‑73, 17 January 2023). ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 of the Convention 7.  The applicants complained of the lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of the prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. 8.  The relevant principles of the Court’s case-law concerning the requirement of impartiality under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention can be found in the leading case of Karelin v. Russia (no. 926/08, §§ 51-57, 20 September 2016, with further references). In that case the Court assessed the national rules of administrative procedure and concluded that the statutory requirement allowing for the national judicial authorities to consider an administrative offence which falls within the ambit of Article 6 of the Convention under its criminal limb, in the absence of a prosecuting authority, was incompatible with the principle of objective impartiality set out in Article 6 of the Convention. 9.  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 on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. 10.  These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW 11.  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. 12.  Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention 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; Elvira Dmitriyeva v. Russia, nos. 60921/17 and 7202/18, §§ 77-90, 30 April 2019, as to administrative conviction for making calls to participate in public assemblies; 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; and Ibragimova v. Russia, no. 68537/13, §§ 32-41, 30 August 2022, as to disproportionate measures taken by the authorities in limitation of the freedom of expression during manifestations. REMAINING COMPLAINTS 13.  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 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION 14.  Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Kuratov and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 24377/15 and 2 others, 22 October 2019, and, mutatis mutandis, Navalnyy and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 25809/17 and 14 others, § 22, 4 October 2022)), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table. FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY, Decides to join the applications; Holds that it has jurisdiction to deal with these applications as they relate to facts that took place before 16 September 2022; Declares the complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the absence of the prosecuting party from the administrative-offence proceedings and the other complaints under the well-established case-law, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and finds that there is no need to examine separately the remaining complaints of the applicants under Article 6 of the Convention; Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of the prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings; Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention and its Protocols as regards the other complaints raised under the well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table); 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 18 July 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.    Viktoriya Maradudina Ioannis Ktistakis  Acting Deputy Registrar President   APPENDIX List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of the prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings) No. Application no. Date of introduction Applicant’s name Year of birth   Representative’s name and location Penalty Date of final domestic decision Name of court Other complaints under well-established case-law Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1]     27023/18 30/05/2018 Sergey Valeryevich YELMAKOV Irina Aleksandrovna Yatsenko Moscow fine of RUB 10,000 30/11/2017 Moscow City Court Art. 10 (1) - various restrictions on the right to freedom of expression - conviction under Art. 20.2 § 5 CAO for hiding his face with a mask at an authorised rally in support of free Internet on 26/08/2017 (see Ibragimova v. Russia, no. 68537/13, §§ 36-37, 30 August 2022). 4,000     55810/19 12/10/2019 Igor Anatolyevich SAYMAKOV Aleksey Borisovich Vologin Volsk fine of RUB 30,000, suspension of the driving licence for one year and six months 07/10/2019 Volskiy District Court of the Saratov Region   1,000     27134/20 13/06/2020 Fizuli Konstantinovich RZAYEV Tural Akhmed ogly Ibragimov Moscow detention for 15 days 28/10/2019 Moscow City Court   5,000     16398/21 06/03/2021 Olga Vitalyevna KUZMINA Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow detention for 5 days,     detention for 6 days 08/09/2020, Moscow City Court   12/08/2021, Moscow City Court Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 09/08/2021 for compiling an offence report, detention beyond the three-hour statutory period,   Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - the sentence of administrative detention imposed on the applicant in the proceedings which ended on 12/08/2021, was executed immediately, on account of the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal under the CAO. 5,000     38901/21 15/07/2021 Parviz Abduazizovich ABDUZHALILOV Rushan Rafisovich Kabirov Kazan detention for 12 days 03/04/2021 Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan   Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 27/03/2021 for compiling an offence report; detention beyond the three-hour statutory period,   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 CAO. 5,000     43714/21 12/08/2021 Marina Borisovna PRALKOVA Pavel Valeryevich Romanov Cheboksary fine of RUB 10,000 24/06/2021 Supreme Court of the Republic of Chuvashia   1,000     48658/21 24/09/2021 Mariya Gennadyevna PETUKHOVA Ivan Yuryevich Zhdanov Vilnius detention for 5 days,       fine of RUB 150,000 30/03/2021 Kaliningrad Regional Court   08/06/2021 Kaliningrad Regional Court Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 30/04/2021 for compiling an offence report; detention beyond the three-hour statutory period,    Art. 10 (1) - conviction for making calls to participate in public events – calls to participate in the rally to support A. Navalnyy on 21/04/2021 in Kaliningrad, Article 20.2 § 8 of CAO, fine of RUB 150,000, final decision 08/06/2021, Kaliningrad Regional Court 6,000     [1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.