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Cite as: [2018] ECHR 191

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THIRD SECTION

CASE OF PARAMONOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Application no. 74986/10 and 2 others -

see appended list)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

22 February 2018

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of Paramonov and Others v. Russia,

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

Luis López Guerra, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 1 February 2018,

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 applications were communicated to the Russian Government ("the Government").

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 that they had been unfairly convicted of drug offences following entrapment by State agents.

THE LAW

I. 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.

II. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION

6. The applicants complained that they had been unfairly convicted of drug offences which they had been incited by State agents to commit and that their plea of entrapment had not been properly examined in the domestic proceedings. They relied on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which reads as follows:

Article 6 § 1

"In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ... everyone is entitled to a ... hearing within a reasonable time by [a] ... tribunal ..."

7. The Court reiterates that absence in the national legal system of a clear and foreseeable procedure for authorising test purchases of drugs remains a structural problem which exposes applicants to an arbitrary action by the State agents and prevents the domestic courts from conducting an effective judicial review of their entrapment pleas (see Veselov and Others v. Russia, nos. 23200/10 and 2 others, § 126, 2 October 2012).

8. The Court has consistently found a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention on account of the deficient existing procedure for authorisation and administration of test purchases of drugs in the respondent State, an issue similar to that in the present case (see Veselov and Others, cited above, §§ 126-�28; Lagutin and Others v. Russia, nos. 6228/09 and 4 others, §§ 124-�25, 24 April 2014; Lebedev and Others v. Russia, nos. 2500/07 and 4 others, §§ 12-�16, 30 April 2015; and Yeremtsov and Others v. Russia, nos. 20696/06 and 4 others, §§ 17-�21, 27 November 2014).

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 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 criminal proceedings against the applicants were incompatible with a notion of a fair trial.

10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

III. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

11. Article 41 of the Convention provides:

"If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party."

12. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case-�law (see, in particular, Veselov and Others v. Russia, nos. 23200/10 and 2 others, 2 October 2012; Mamontov and Others v. Russia, nos. 46796/06 and 2 others, 21 June 2016; and Akulin and Others v. Russia, nos. 14313/07 and 8 others, 22 March 2016), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table. It dismisses the remainder of the applicants' claims for just satisfaction.

13. The Court considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

1. Decides to join the applications;

2. Declares the applications admissible;

3. Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning entrapment by State agents;

4. 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.

5. Dismisses the remainder of the applicants' claims for just satisfaction.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 22 February 2018, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Liv TigerstedtLuis López Guerra

Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
(entrapment by State agents)

No.	Application no. Date of introduction	Applicant name Date of birth	Representative name and location	Test purchase date Type of drugs	Specific grievances	Final domestic judgment (appeal court, date)	Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage per applicant (in euros)[1]	Amount awarded for costs and expenses per application (in euros)[2]
	74986/10 06/12/2010	Andrey Sergeyevich Paramonov 29/08/1976	Paramonova Svetlana Ivanovna Penza	01/12/2008 Desomorphine.	Pressure to sell, fellow drug user, repeated calls.	Penza Regional Court, 23/06/2010	3,000	500
	45145/12 08/06/2012	Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kuzovlev 11/08/1982		26/05/2010 Heroin.	Fellow drug user, lack of incriminating information.	Moscow Regional Court, 13/03/2012	3,000	850
	54214/14 17/07/2014	Dmitriy Aleksandrovich Bolotnikov 31/05/1990	Bibik Oleg Ivanovich Ivanovo	22/05/2013 Amphetamine.	Pressure to sell, repeated calls, undercover policeman, lack of incriminating information.	Ivanovo Regional Court, 02/04/2014	3,000	850

[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.

[2]