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European Court of Human Rights
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> European Court of Human Rights >> ZAKHAROVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA - 43102/15 (Article 11 - Freedom of assembly and association : First Section Committee) [2024] ECHR 635 (04 July 2024)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2024/635.html
Cite as: [2024] ECHR 635
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FIRST SECTION
CASE OF ZAKHAROVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 43102/15 and 24 others -
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
4 July 2024
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Zakharova and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Lətif Hüseynov, President,
Ivana Jelić,
Erik Wennerström, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 13 June 2024,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
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. Some applicants 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, and having taken into account the issue of compliance with the six-month time-limit under Article 35 § 1 of the Convention (see Saakashvili v. Georgia (dec.), nos. 6232/20 and 22394/20, §§ 46-59, 1 March 2022, in which the Court addressed the COVID-related extension of the period in question), 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, 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 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 Yartsev v. Russia, no. 16683/17, §§ 28-38, 20 July 2021, concerning the administrative conviction for waving banners with slogans that did not correspond to the declared aims of the public assembly.
- REMAINING COMPLAINTS
14. Some applicants raised further additional complaints under Article 6 concerning other aspects of fairness of the administrative-offence proceedings and Article 11 of the Convention regarding restrictions on location or time of public events. In view of the findings in paragraphs 11 and 13 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints.
15. The Court has further examined the rest of the complaints raised by the applicants and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto. It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
- APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
16. 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, finds that there is no need to examine separately the remaining complaints under Articles 6 and 11 of the Convention, and declares the remainder of the applications inadmissible;
- Holds that there has been a breach of Article 11 of the Convention;
- Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention 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 4 July 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Lətif Hüseynov
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)
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] | |
17/08/2015
| Yelena Georgiyevna ZAKHAROVA 1949
Irina Leonidovna KALMYKOVA 1960
Yekaterina Anatolyevna MALDON 1972
| Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Moscow | Protest against military actions in Donbass (Ms Zakharova)
Moscow
28/08/2014
Rally in memory of the deceased participants of Euromaidan
Moscow
20/02/2015
| article 20.2 § 5 of CAO (Ms Zakharova)
article 19.3 § 1 of CAO (all applicants) | fine of RUB 10,000 (Ms Zakharova)
fine of RUB 1,000 (each applicant) | Moscow City Court 12/03/2015 (Ms Zakharova)
Moscow City Court 04/06/2015 (all applicants)
| Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 11 p.m. on 20/02/2015 until 3.30 p.m. on 21/02/2015 (Ms Zakharova), from 10.20 p.m. on 20/02/2015 until 3.35 p.m. on 21/02/2015 (Ms Kalmykova) and from 10.20 p.m. on 20/02/2015 until 10.15 a.m. on 21/02/2015 (Ms Maldon);
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings - as regards all applicants in relation to the rally on 20/02/2015.
| 4,000 (to each of the applicants) | |
15/06/2016
| Roman Petrovich ROSLOVTSEV 1979
Maksim Sergeyevich CHISTOV 1987
Kirill Aleksandrovich FILONENKO 1980
| Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Moscow | Political rally
Moscow
18/08/2015
Commemoration of Boris Nemtsov (Mr Roslovtsev)
Moscow
27/02/2016 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO (Mr Roslovtsev and Mr Chistov), article 20.2 § 8 of CAO (Mr Filonenko)
article 20.2 § 5 of CAO (Mr Roslovtsev)
| fine of RUB 10,000 (Mr Roslovtsev); fine of RUB 10,000 (Mr Chistov), fine of RUB 150,000 (Mr Filonenko);
fine of RUB 10,000 (Mr Roslovtsev)
| Moscow City Court 22/01/2016 (all applicants)
Moscow City Court 28/06/2016 (Mr Roslovtsev)
|
| 3,500 (to be paid to Mr Roslovtsev); 3,500 (to be paid to Mr Chistov) and 5,000 (to be paid to Mr Filonenko) | |
05/10/2016 | Yelena Georgiyevna ZAKHAROVA 1949
Olga Mikhaylovna MAZUROVA 1960
| Pigoleva Darya Sergeyevna Moscow | March of Change
Moscow
12/12/2015
| article 20.2 § 5 of CAO (both applicants)
| fine of RUB 20,000 (Ms Zakharova)
fine of RUB 15,000 (Ms Mazurova) | Moscow City Court 22/04/2016 (Ms Zakharova)
Moscow City Court 08/04/2016 (Ms Mazurova) | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report from 3 p.m. until 5.30 p.m. (Ms Mazurova) and 5.40 p.m. (Ms Zakharova) respectively;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. | 4,000 (to each of the applicants) | |
11/05/2017 | Igor Alekseyevich KLOCHKOV 1972 | Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Moscow | Recitation of the Russian Constitution
Moscow
12/09/2016 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 5,000 | Moscow City Court
12/12/2016 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report from 7.40 p.m. until 9 p.m. on 12/09/2016;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. | 4,000 | |
10/11/2017
and
12/03/2018 | Semen Aleksandrovich KOCHKIN 1993 | Glukhov Aleksey Vladimirovich Novocheboksarsk | Anti-corruption protest
Cheboksary
26/03/2017
Political rally
Cheboksary
07/10/2017 | Article 20.2 § 1 of CAO
article 20.2 § 8 of CAO | 30 days of community work
40 hours of community work | Supreme Court of the Chuvashia Republic 31/08/2017
Supreme Court of the Chuvashia Republic 14/11/2017 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report from 3.30 p.m. until 5.40 p.m. on 10/10/2017;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in all sets of administrative-offence proceedings;
Art. 10 (1) - conviction for the display of slogans/banners/other symbols by participants in public events - the applicant was convicted under Article 19.3 § 1 of CAO and fined RUB 1,000 for participating in the unauthorised rally and shouting anti-government slogans that did not correspond to the declared aims of the simultaneous Young Guard's event on 26/03/2017 (final decision taken by the Supreme Court of the Chuvashia Republic on 11/05/2017). | 4,500
| |
29/11/2017
and
16/02/2020;
22/07/2020 | Oleg Aleksandrovich YELANCHIK 1990 | Yefremova Yekaterina Viktorovna Moscow
Yatsenko Irina Aleksandrovna Moscow
Yatsenko Irina Aleksandrovna Moscow | Anti-corruption rally
Moscow
26/03/2017
Rally to support Ivan Golunov
Moscow
12/06/2019
Rally to call for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO
article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000
fine of RUB 20,000
fine of RUB 15,000
| Moscow City Court 29/05/2017
Moscow City Court 16/08/2019
Moscow City Court 22/10/2019 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - (1) escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 8.40 p.m. on 26/03/2017 until 2 a.m. on 27/03/2017 and from 7.30 p.m. on 27/07/2019 until 6.40 p.m. on 29/07/2019; (2) escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report from 4.10 p.m. until 7 p.m. on 12/06/2019;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in all sets of the administrative-offence proceedings. | 4,000 | |
21/12/2017
and
10/10/2018
| Andrey Sergeyevich PROKUDIN 1990 | Terekhov Konstantin Ilyich Moscow
Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich Vilnius | Anti-corruption rally
Tver
26/03/2017
"Big Clean-Up Day"
Tver
07/07/2017
Opposition rally
Tver
05/05/2018
Protest against retirement age hike
Tver
09/09/2018 | article 20.2 § 1 of CAO
article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
article 20.2 § 8 of CAO
article 20.2 § 8 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000
fine of RUB 11,000
detention for 5 days
detention for 20 days | Tver Regional Court 29/06/2017
Tver Regional Court 16/05/2018
Tver Regional Court 16/05/2018
Tver Regional Court 14/09/2018 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station from 11 p.m. on 05/05/2018 until 12.40 p.m. on 07/05/2018 and from 5.55 p.m. on 09/09/2018 until 11.25 a.m. on 10/09/2018;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in all sets of the administrative-offence proceedings. | 5,000 | |
08/01/2018 | Aleksandr Borisovich KLUBOV 1974 | Terekhov Konstantin Ilyich Moscow | Anti-corruption rally
St Petersburg
12/06/2017 | article 19.3 § 1 of CAO,
article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 500,
fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 13/07/2017
St Petersburg City Court 13/07/2017 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 3.20 p.m. on 12/06/2017 until 11 p.m. on 14/06/2017;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings. | 4,000 | |
30/03/2018;
and
19/10/2018 | Zakhar Borisovich SARAPULOV 1992 | Ivanets Vyacheslav Sergeyevich Tbilisi, Georgia | Political rally
Irkutsk
04/11/2017
Political rally
Irkutsk
01/05/2018
Opposition rally
Irkutsk
05/05/2018 | article 20.2 § 2 of CAO
article 20.2 § 8 of CAO
article 20.2 § 8 of CAO | detention for 6 days
detention for 7 days
fine of RUB 150,000
| Irkutsk Regional Court 30/11/2017
Irkutsk Regional Court 26/06/2018
Irkutsk Regional Court 20/06/2018 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings which ended with the final decisions taken on 20/06/2018 and 26/06/2018 respectively. | 5,000 | |
11/04/2018 | Leonid Vladimirovich SANKIN 1963 | Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich Vilnius | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy's Presidential Candidacy
Rostov-on-Don
07/10/2017 | article 20.1 § 6.1 of CAO | detention for 3 days | Rostov Regional Court 20/10/2017 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. | 5,000 | |
21/06/2018 | Vadim Vilyevich KHAYRULLIN 1972 | Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich Vilnius | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy's Presidential Candidacy
Kaliningrad
07/10/2017 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Kaliningrad Regional Court 21/12/2017 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. | 3,500 | |
27/07/2018 | Vadim Leonidovich KOBZEV 1997 | Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich Vilnius | Gathering in support of A. Navalnyy's Presidential Candidacy
Rostov-on-Don
24/12/2017 | article 20.2 § 8 of CAO | detention for 10 days | Rostov Regional Court 27/01/2018 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. | 5,000 | |
08/12/2018 | Kirill Valeryevich ISHUTIN 1984 | Terekhov Konstantin Ilyich Moscow | Opposition rally
Vladimir
05/05/2018 | article 19.3 § 1 of CAO,
article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | detention for 2 days;
fine of RUB 5,000 | Vladimir Regional Court 08/06/2018
Vladimir Regional Court 11/09/2018 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of administrative-offence proceedings. | 5,000 | |
02/04/2019 | Mikhail Olegovich ALEKSEYEV 1990 | Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich Vilnius | Rally against retirement age hike
Khabarovsk
09/09/2018 | article 20.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Khabarovsk Regional Court 07/11/2018 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report from 2.30 p.m. until 5.30 p.m. on 09/09/2018;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. | 4,000 | |
29/04/2019 | Igor Anatolyevich ZHULIMOV 1962 |
| Rally against retirement age hike
Penza
09/09/2018 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | detention for 5 days | Penza Regional Court 09/11/2018 |
| 5,000 | |
27/05/2019
and
30/01/2020
| Vladislav Aleksandrovich BARABANOV 1997 | Sozonov Ruslan Vladimirovich Nizhniy Novgorod
Anosova Lidiya Sergeyevna Orekhovo-Zuyevo | Protest against retirement age hike
Nizhniy Novgorod
09/09/2018
Rally to call for fair elections to Mosgorduma
Moscow
27/07/2019 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO
article 20.2 § 8 of CAO | 70 hours of community work
detention for 7 days | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 28/11/2018
Moscow City Court 02/08/2019 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - (1) escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report on 16/09/2018, (2) escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 8.50 p.m. on 27/07/2019 until 10 a.m. on 29/07/2019;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings. | 5,000 | |
08/08/2019 | Svetlana Alekseyevna GANNUSHKINA 1942 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally to support Oyub Titiyev
Moscow
09/07/2018 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Moscow City Court 20/03/2019 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report from 2 p.m. until 4.05 p.m. on 09/07/2018;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings.
| 4,000 | |
10/08/2019 | Nikita Vladimirovich ZAYTSEV 1997 | Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Moscow | Protest against the demolition of the "Solovey" cinema centre
Moscow
23/11/2018
Opposition march
Moscow
14/09/2019 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO
article 20.2 § 8 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000
detention for 5 days | Moscow City Court 28/03/2019
Moscow City Court 20/09/2019 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - (1) escorting to the police station for compiling an offence report on 23/11/2018 and 16/09/2018; (2) escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 4.35 p.m. on 18/09/2019 until 11.06 a.m. on 19/09/2019;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings. | 5,000 | |
13/05/2023 | Nikolay Sergeyevich KAMYSHEV 1995 |
| Protest against war in Ukraine
Moscow
06/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Moscow City Court 01/03/2023 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station for compiling an offence report from 6 p.m. until 10.20 p.m. on 06/03/2022. | 4,000 |
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.