61346/21;61718/21;11056/22;17980/22;18155/22;18960/22;25025/22;33586/22;34255/22;40948/22;46901/22;46951/22;50249/22;50581/22;53418/22

FIFTH SECTION CASE OF BEGLARYAN AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA (Applications nos. 61346/21 and 14 others – see appended list)             JUDGMENT   STRASBOURG 16 May 2024   This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Beglaryan and Others v. Russia, The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:  María Elósegui, President,  Mattias Guyomar,  Kateřina Šimáčková, judges, and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 18 April 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 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 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 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. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW 12.  Some 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); 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 Glukhin v. Russia, no. 11519/20, §§ 64-91, 4 July 2023, concerning unjustified processing of the applicant’s personal biometric data by using highly intrusive facial recognition technology in the proceedings under the Code of Administrative Offences, in order to identify, locate and arrest the applicant. REMAINING COMPLAINTS 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 the above paragraphs, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION 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, 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 11 of the Convention and the other complaints under 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 Article 6 of the Convention; Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention; 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); 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 16 May 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.  Viktoriya Maradudina María Elósegui  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 case-law Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1]     61346/21 03/12/2021 Kamo Lemaksovich BEGLARYAN Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow Forum "Municipal Russia"   Moscow   13/03/2021 article 20.33 of CAO fine of RUB 15,000 Izmaylovskiy District Court of Moscow 30/07/2021 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, - escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 10.30 a.m. until 4.30 p.m. on 13/03/2021;     4,000     61718/21 10/12/2021 Natalya Nikolayevna MASLYAYEVA Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow Forum "Municipal Russia"   Moscow   13/03/2021 article 20.33 of CAO fine of RUB 5,000 Novomoskovskiy District Court of the Tula Region 08/07/2021 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 10.30 a.m. until 8.45 p.m. on 13/03/2021;   Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 4,000     11056/22 11/02/2022 Pavel Dmitriyevich KIRIKOV Prosvirkina Kseniya Dmitriyevna Moscow Forum "Municipal Russia"   Moscow   13/03/2021 article 20.3.3 § 1 of CAO fine of RUB 15,000 Izmaylovskiy District Court of Moscow 12/08/2021 Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 4,000     17980/22 09/03/2022 Igor Igorevich YESHTOKIN Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow Rally "Free Navalnyy"   Moscow   21/04/2021 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000 Moscow City Court 09/09/2021 Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 3,500     18155/22 17/03/2022 Yevgeniy Mikhaylovich NIZHNIKOV Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow Rally "Free Navalnyy"   Moscow   21/04/2021 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 20,000 Moscow City Court 17/09/2021 Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 3,500     18960/22 18/03/2022 Stanislav Igorevich MARTYNOV Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow Rally "Free Navalnyy"   Moscow   21/04/2021 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000 Moscow City Court 27/09/2021 Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 3,500     25025/22 27/04/2022 Petr Nikolayevich ALESHIN     Meeting with candidates for elections to the State Duma   Moscow   20/01/2021 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000 Moscow City Court 07/02/2022 Art. 8 (2) - restrictions on the right to private life of participants in public assemblies - use of facial recognition technology for the identification of the applicant as a participant of a rally and his subsequent conviction (raised on appeal);   Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings   Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 23/09/2021 for compiling an offence report in relation to the manifestation on 20/01/2021. 5,000     33586/22 14/06/2022 Nino Davidovna VALISHVILI Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow Rally "Free Navalnyy"   Tyumen   21/04/2021 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 15,000 Tyumen Regional Court 14/02/2022 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 8.34 p.m. on 21/04/2021 until 2.17 a.m. on 22/04/2021;   Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 4,000     34255/22 07/07/2022 Vyacheslav Vladimirovich RYABININ Preobrazhenskaya Oksana Vladimirovna Strasbourg Anti-war protest   Rostov-on-Don   06/03/2022 article 19.3 § 1 of CAO detention for 15 days Rostov Regional Court 19/03/2022 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 3 p.m. on 06/03/2022 until 9 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;   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   40948/22 05/08/2022 Irina Fidusovna BADERTDINOVA Sabirov Rim Faridovich Kazan Anti-war protest   Kazan   06/03/2022 article 20.2 § 2 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000 Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic 06/04/2022 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty- escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 4.45 p.m. on 06/03/2022 until 9 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   46901/22 14/09/2022 Darya Mikhaylovna MOSHKINA Kulikov Sergey Sergeyevich 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 18/05/2022 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 3 p.m. on 06/03/2022 until 2.40 p.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   46951/22 16/09/2022 Tatyana Vladimirovna VOYNICH Tregubova Yuliya Mikhaylovna Balashikha Anti-war protest   Moscow   25/02/2022 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 20,000 Moscow City Court 15/07/2022 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 26/02/2022 for compiling an offence report;      Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 4,000   50249/22 06/10/2022 Boris Vadimovich MAVRIN Lapuzin Aleksey Sergeyevich Samara Anti-war protest   Samara 27/02/2022 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000 Samara Regional Court 09/06/2022 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty- escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 3.15 p.m. until 8.40 p.m. on 27/02/2022;   Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 4,000   50581/22 27/09/2022 Polina Igorevna BORISOVA Sozonov Ruslan Vladimirovich Nizhniy Novgorod Anti-war protest   Nizhniy Novgorod   24/02/2022 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 12,000 Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 01/06/2022 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 7.40 p.m. until 10.50 p.m. on 24/02/2022;   Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 4,000   53418/22 22/10/2022 Andrey Aleksandrovich KARELIN Semenov Daniil Aleksandrovich St Petersburg Rally in support of political prisoners   St Petersburg 11/02/2022 article 20.2 § 2 of CAO fine of RUB 20,000 St Petersburg City Court 23/06/2022 Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 3,500   [1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.