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URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2024/662.html
Cite as: [2024] ECHR 662

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SECOND SECTION

CASE OF MULDAGALIYEVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Applications nos. 15013/18 and 8 others -

see appended list)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

11 July 2024

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

In the case of Muldagaliyeva 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 20 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 unlawful search.

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 8 of the Convention

7. The applicants complained principally of the unlawful search. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 8 of the Convention. Ms Prokopyeva and Mr Kamalyagin (application no. 43810/19) also referred to Article 10 of the Convention.

8. In the leading cases concerning searches of the applicants' homes (see Misan v. Russia, no. 4261/04, 2 October 2014, and Kruglov and Others v. Russia, nos. 11264/04 and 15 others, 4 February 2020), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.

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. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the searches were carried out without relevant and sufficient grounds and in the absence of safeguards that would confine their impact to reasonable bounds.

10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 8 of the Convention.

11. In view of the above findings, the Court does not consider it necessary to examine the applicants' grievances (application no. 43810/19) from the standpoint of Article 10 of the Convention.

APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION

12. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case-law (see, in particular, Misan, cited above, § 70), 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;
Declares the applications admissible;
Holds that it has jurisdiction to deal with these applications as they relate to facts that took place before 16 September 2022;
Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 8 of the Convention concerning the unlawful search;
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 11 July 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 8 § 1 of the Convention

(unlawful search)

No.	Application no. Date of introduction	Applicant's name Year of birth	Representative's name and location	Type of search Premises	Date of the search authorisation Name of issuing authority	Date of the search Means of exhaustion	Specific defects	Other relevant information	Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant / household (in euros)[1]
	15013/18 14/03/2018	Gulmira Urazbayevna MULDAGALIYEVA 1982	Kulapov Vitaliy Viktorovich Moscow	Inspection of the applicant's flat under the Law on Operative and Investigative Activities	14/09/2017, Saratov Regional Court	search on 15/09/2017, Frunzenskiy District Court of Saratov, 23/10/2017, Saratov Regional Court, 13/12/2017	no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: applicant not a suspect, no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion)		7,500
	43810/19 05/08/2019 and 16/08/2022	Svetlana Vladimirovna PROKOPYEVA 1979 Denis Nikolayevich KAMALYAGIN 1985	Misakyan Tumas Arsenovich Moscow	(1) Search of the first applicant's flat was conducted within the framework of the criminal proceedings against her, (2) Urgent search of the first applicant's house within the framework of the criminal proceedings against unidentified persons on the charges of extremism, (3) Urgent search of the second applicant's flat within the framework of the criminal proceedings against unidentified persons on the charges of extremism	(1) 06/02/2019, Pskov Town Court (2) 18/03/2022, Pskov Town Police Investigator (3) 18/03/2022, Pskov Town Police Investigator	(1) search on 06/02/2019, Pskov Regional Court, 03/04/2019 (2) search on 18/03/2022, Pskov Town Court, 20/03/2022, Pskov Regional Court, 27/04/2022 (3) search on 18/03/2022, Pskov Town Court, 20/03/2022, Pskov Regional Court, 27/04/2022	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion), no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: no evidence supporting the search authorisation, no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: no reasonable suspicion as the basis for the search authorisation	(1) On 05/02/2019 the investigator with the regional investigative committee opened a criminal case against the applicant on the charge of public calls to justify terrorism in connection with the applicant's publication and podcast. (2) and (3) The second criminal case was opened in response to a publication on Internet allegedly discrediting Mr V.	7,500, to each of the applicants
	34276/20 04/08/2020	Rustam Ratmirovich ISKHAKOV 1996	Markelov Igor Olegovich Moscow	Urgent search of the applicant's flat	15/02/2020, Investigator, District Department of the Interior; the search order was authorised by the Babushkinskiy District Court of Moscow on 21/02/2020	Search on 15/05/2020, final decision on the matter was taken by the Moscow City Court on 19/05/2020	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion), no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: no reasonable suspicion as the basis for the search authorisation, no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: applicant not a suspect		7,500
	9637/21 28/01/2021	Yevgeniya Andreyevna SANINA 1983		Urgent search of the applicant's flat	13/08/2019, senior investigator, authorised by the Presnenskiy District Court of Moscow on 12/10/2020	Search on 14/08/2019, upheld on appeal by the Moscow City Court on 16/12/2020	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion), no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: applicant not a suspect	The search was conducted within the framework of the criminal proceedings against third parties on the charges of illegal banking activities conducted by an organised group; the applicant knew the alleged perpetrators	7,500
	40145/21 23/07/2021	Petr Yuryevich VERZILOV 1987	Solovyev Leonid Alekseyevich Moscow	Urgent search of the applicant's flat in connection with criminal investigation in respect of unidentified organisers of mass protest and unrest	21/06/2020, senior investigator with the investigative committee; upheld by the Basmannyy District Court of Moscow on 02/02/2021	Search on 21/06/2020, upheld on appeal by the Moscow City Court on 07/04/2021	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion), no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: applicant not a suspect	On 07/07/2020 the applicant was charged with failure to report a dual nationality to the Russian migration service	7,500
	46776/21 10/09/2021	Ivan Yuryevich PAVLOV 1971	Moskalenko Karinna Akopovna Strasbourg	Search of the applicant's flat and offices; search of the hotel room where the applicant stayed	27/04/2021 and 29/04/2021, Basmannyy District Court of Moscow	Search on 30/04/2021, the relevant search orders were upheld on appeal by the Moscow City Court on 07/07/2021 and 08/07/2021	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion), no special safeguards for lawyers: no presence of independent observers, no special safeguards for lawyers: no special instructions by a judge regarding privileged materials	The applicant, a practising attorney, was charged with having divulged the classified information pertaining to the criminal investigation in respect of one of his clients	7,500
	57274/21 17/11/2021	Svetlana Nikolayevna KOVALETS 1973	Cherkasov Vitaliy Viktorovich St Petersburg	Applicant's flat	06/02/2021, investigator's decision (urgent search)	06/02/2021, lawfulness of the decision confirmed by domestic courts upon the applicant's appeal (final decision St Petersburg City Court on 27/05/2021)	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion), no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: applicant not a suspect, no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: no reasonable suspicion as the basis for the search authorisation		7,500
	57897/21 13/11/2021	Tatyana Ivanovna LEYSHA 1955	Cherkasov Vitaliy Viktorovich St Petersburg	Search in the applicant's flat within the framework of the criminal proceedings against unidentified persons; urgent search	31/01/2021, Senior investigator, department of the Ministry of the Interior	Search on 31/01/2021, Kuybyshevskiy District Court of St Petersburg, 02/02/2022; St Petersburg City Court, 24/05/2021	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion), no relevant or sufficient reasons to justify the search: applicant not a suspect		7,500
	14626/22 20/02/2022 (5 applicants)	Household Ernest Aleksandrovich MEZAK 1976 Irina Vladimirovna KHARIONOVSKAYA 1976 Kristina Ernestovna MEZAK 2005 NIkolay Ernestovich MEZAK 2002 Nina Vasilyevna MEZAK 1951	Laptev Aleksey Nikolayevich Moscow	search of the flat	25/06/2021, Syktyvdinskiy District Court of the Republic of Komi	Search on 26/06/2021, the Supreme Court of the Komi Republic upheld the search order on appeal on 20/08/2021	no adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse: broad terms/wide content and scope of the search warrant (objects and documents not specific enough to restrict police's discretion)	The search was conducted within the framework of the criminal proceedings against the first applicant charged with contempt of the court	7,500

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