64176/17;71097/17;74235/17;74347/17;74353/17;78721/17;79492/17;3115/18;3504/18;4138/18

SECOND SECTION CASE OF POPOVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA (Applications nos. 64176/17 and 9 others – see appended list)             JUDGMENT   STRASBOURG 13 June 2024   This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Popova and Others v. Russia, The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:  Lorraine Schembri Orland, President,  Frédéric Krenc,  Davor Derenčinović, judges, and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 23 May 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) 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. 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 paragraphs 12‑13 above, 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 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 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 13 June 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.  Viktoriya Maradudina Lorraine Schembri Orland  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]     64176/17 25/08/2017 Nina Mikhaylovna POPOVA Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow Protest (display of a banner) against corruption of sports judges   Krasnodar Region   19/01/2017 article 20.2 § 2 of CAO 45 hours of community work Krasnodar Regional Court 27/02/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - detention at the police station for compiling an offence record between 5.19 p.m. on 19/01/2017 and 2.00 p.m. of 20/01/2017 when the applicant was transferred to the court 4,000     71097/17 18/09/2017 Andrey Vasilyevich ZHUZHGOV Popkov Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sochi Anti-corruption rally   Krasnodar   26/03/2017 article 19.3 § 1 of CAO detention for 10 days Krasnodar Regional Court 06/04/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence record between 2.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. on 26/03/2017,   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     74235/17 06/10/2017 Konstantin Yuryevich SHEVANDOV Popkov Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sochi Anti-corruption rally   Krasnodar   26/03/2017 article 19.3 § 1 of CAO detention for 10 days Krasnodar Regional Court 06/04/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence record between 2:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on 26/03/2017,   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     74347/17 06/10/2017 Denis Andreyevich PAVLOV Popkov Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sochi Anti-corruption rally   Krasnodar   26/03/2017 article 19.3 § 1 of CAO detention for 10 days Krasnodar Regional Court 06/04/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence record between 2.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. on 26/03/2017,   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     74353/17 06/10/2017 Yevgeniy Pavlovich ONANCHENKO Popkov Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sochi Anti-corruption rally   Krasnodar   26/03/2017 article 19.3 § 1 of CAO detention for 15 days Krasnodar Regional Court 06/04/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence record on 26/03/2017,   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     78721/17 03/11/2017 Olga Vladimirovna KURDELYAS Glukhov Aleksey Vladimirovich Novocheboksarsk Rally for protection of environment   Cheboksary   26/03/2017     article 19.3 § 1 of CAO       and     article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 1,000       and     fine of RUB 15,000 Supreme Court of the Republic of Chuvashia 04/05/2017   and   Supreme Court of the Republic of Chuvashia 07/09/2017 Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative‑offence proceedings 3,500     79492/17 20/10/2017 Viktor Viktorovich CHIRIKOV Popkov Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sochi Anti-corruption rally   Krasnodar   26/03/2017     article 19.3 § 1 of CAO       and     article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO detention of 3 days       and     detention for 3 days Krasnodar Regional Court 26/04/2017   and     Krasnodar Regional Court 26/04/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence record between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on 26/03/2017,     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     3115/18 16/12/2017 Dmitriy Igorevich REZNICHENKO Mezak Ernest Aleksandrovich Saint-Barthélemy-d’Anjou Anti-corruption rally   Komsomolsk-on-Amur   26/03/2017 article 19.3 § 1 of CAO detention for 2 days Khabarovsk Regional Court 16/06/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence record between 2.10 p.m. on 26/03/2017 and 2 p.m. on 27/03/2017,   Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative‑offence proceedings - in both sets of 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     3504/18 03/01/2018 Anton Igorevich TEREKHIN Terekhov Konstantin Ilyich Moscow Anti-corruption rally   Vladivostok   26/03/2017 article 20.2 § 5 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000 Primorye Regional Court 03/07/2017 Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence record on 26/03/2017,    Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings 4,000   4138/18 20/12/2017 Sergey Vladimirovich ANDREYEV Terekhov Konstantin Ilyich Moscow Anti-corruption rally   Almetyevsk   12/06/2017 article 20.2 § 2 of CAO detention for 5 days Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan 21/06/2017 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   [1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.