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SOLOVJOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

Doc ref: 2075/14;3503/14;33721/14;35232/14;35378/14;51471/14;52996/14;53388/14;61461/14;61609/14;77048/14 • ECHR ID: 001-193516

Document date: April 30, 2019

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Cited paragraphs: 0
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Outbound citations: 5

SOLOVJOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

Doc ref: 2075/14;3503/14;33721/14;35232/14;35378/14;51471/14;52996/14;53388/14;61461/14;61609/14;77048/14 • ECHR ID: 001-193516

Document date: April 30, 2019

Cited paragraphs only

THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 2075/14 Maksim Sergeyevich SOLOVJOV against Russia and 10 other applications (see list appended)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 30 April 2019 as a Committee composed of:

Alena Poláčková , President, Dmitry Dedov , Jolien Schukking , judges, and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table ,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

1. The applicants are Russian nationals, except for Mr Solovjov who is a Lithuanian national , living in various regions of the Russian Federation. Their personal details appear in the appended table.

2. The Russian Government ("the Government") were represented initially by Mr G. Matyushkin , the Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Court of Human Rights, and then by his successor in that office, Mr M. Galperin .

3. The facts of the cases, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.

4. On various dates between 2012 and 2016 the applicants were criminally prosecuted and convicted of various offences.

5. The applicants ’ convictions were based among other evidence on the statements of one or more witnesses for prosecution, which were made during pre-trial stages of the proceedings and read out in open court while those witnesses were absent.

6. Allowing the witnesses ’ pre-trial statements as evidence the trial courts in their judgments relied on the impossibility to locate them and/or their refusal to appear at court, and/or remoteness of their place of residence as well as engagements existing at the material time and/or their poor state of health that made impossible for them to appear before the court.

7. The convictions were based on a multiplicity of evidence, including statements by the applicants made at the pre-trial stage and at trial in the presence of their lawyers, trial statements by the police officers, other witnesses for prosecution, material and documentary evidence. The domestic courts analysed the witnesses ’ pre-trial statements and established their coherence and consistency with other evidence.

8. The judgments of the trial courts were upheld on appeal.

COMPLAINTS

9. The applicants complained under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention that the domestic courts had not provided good reasons for reading-out of the pre-trial statements of the witnesses for prosecution and thus the applicants had been unable to have those witnesses examined at the trial.

10. The applicants, except for Mr Solovjov , Mr Zemchenkov , Mr Kovalenko , Mr Edilkhanov and Mr Ryabov (applications nos. 2075/14, 3503/14, 51471/14, 53388/14 and 61609/14 respectively), also complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the outcome of the proceedings, assessment of evidence and in the case of Mr Ovchenkov (application no. 52996/14) about the refusal to admit certain materials into evidence.

11. Mr Zemchenkov and Mr Kurashov (applications nos. 3503/14 and 35232/14 respectively) complained in addition under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

12. Mr Kovalenko (application no. 51471/14) further complained under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (b), (d) and Article 7 of the Convention.

13. Mr Tomilin (application no. 61461/14) complained also under Article 5 § 1 (a) and Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

14. Mr Ryabov (application no. 61609 /14) complained under Article 7 of the Convention.

THE LAW

15. The Court first considers that in accordance with Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications listed in the appended table should be joined, given their common legal background.

16. The respondent Government in their observations argued that the applicants had had a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. They argued that the applicants ’ convictions were based on other abundant evidence. Referring to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, as well as the relevant interpretative guidelines and practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Government contended that the Russian legal system had afforded the applicants sufficient procedural safeguards aimed at securing their right to examine witnesses testifying against them and guarantees of a fair trial.

17. Certain applicants disagreed, while the others did not provide specific arguments.

18. The Court has carefully examined the applications listed in the appended table and concluded that, in the light of the Court ’ s primary concern under Article 6 § 1 to evaluate the overall fairness of the criminal proceedings (see Al-Khawaja and Tahery v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 26766/05 and 22228/06, § 118, ECHR 2011, and Schatschaschwili v. Germany [GC], no. 9154/10, § 101, ECHR 2015), the presumption that in principle the Russian legal system offers robust procedural guarantees securing the right of an accused to examine witnesses testifying against him, ensuring that the reading out of absent witnesses ’ testimony is possible only as an exception (see Zadumov v. Russia , no. 2257/12, § 63, 12 December 2017, recently reiterated in Kiba and Others ( dec. ), nos. 38047/08 and 2 others, § 16, 17 April 2018), the material in its possession, and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, the applications are manifestly ill-founded as well as the accessory complaints of all the applicants except for Mr Solovjov , Mr Zemchenkov , Mr Kovalenko , Mr Edilkhanov and Mr Ryabov (applications nos. 2075/14, 3503/14, 51471/14, 53388/14 and 61609/14 respectively) under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, complaints of Mr Zemchenkov and Mr Kurashov (applications nos. 3503/14 and 35232/14 respectively) under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, complaints of Mr Kovalenko (application no. 51471/14) under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (b), (d) and Article 7 of the Convention, complaints of Mr Tomilin (application no. 61461/14) under Article 5 § 1 (a) and Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, complaints of Mr Ryabov (application no. 61609/14) under Article 7 of the Convention, which were not communicated to the Government, and thus must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Declares the applications inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 23 May 2019 .

Fatoş Aracı Alena Poláčková Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant name

Date of birth

Place of residence

Represented by

Date of the trial and appeal/cassation courts ’ judgments

Witness absent from trial

2075/14

27/12/2013

Maksim Sergeyevich

SOLOVJOV

03/10/1992

Belavino , Moscow Region

Golovinskiy District Court of Moscow

06/08/2013

Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

17/03/2014

Convicted of attempted drug trafficking

Ms N.

3503/14

18/03/2014

Valeriy Nikolayevich ZEMCHENKOV

29/05/1969

Lepley , Republic of Mordovia

Zheleznodorozhniy District Court of Orel

26/06/2013

Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

18/08/2014

Convicted of attempted drug trafficking by an organized group on a large scale, preparation to drug trafficking by an organized group on an especially large scale, abuse of office

Ms Sh.,

Ms N.,

Mr M.,

Mr K.

33721/14

28/04/2014

Vadim Vsevolodovich GULTSEV

14/01/1956

Moscow

Voroshilovskiy District Court of Rostov-on-Don

28/12/2012

Rostov Regional Court

12/11/2013

Convicted of attempted drug trafficking on a large scale by an organized group (3 episodes), drug trafficking on a large scale by an organized group, preparation for drug trafficking on an especially large scale by an organized group

Ms P.

35232/14

28/04/2014

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

KURASHOV

13/06/1992

Barashevo , Republic of Mordovia

Vladimir Vladimirovich

Nabokov

Pushkino Town Court of the Moscow Region

24/09/2013

Moscow Regional Court

14/11/2013

Convicted of murder

Mr D.

35378/14

25/12/2014

Zaur Ilgarovich

NAZAROV

05/01/1987

Rybinsk , Yaroslavl Region

Aleksey Viktorovich

Chichagov

Leninskiy District Court of Yaroslavl

15/10/2013

Yaroslavl Regional Court

16/10/2014

Convicted of psychotropic substance and drug trafficking (7 episodes)

Ms S.

51471/14

18/05/2014

Oleg Valeryevich KOVALENKO

12/08/1973

Slavyanovka , Kaliningrad Region

Sovetskiy Town Court

09/09/2013

Kaliningrad Regional Court

11/03/2014

Convicted of theft with the use of violence not endangering health, attempted theft with the use of violence not endangering health, theft

Ms Sh.

52996/14

23/08/2014

Yuriy Yuryevich

OVCHENKOV

12/09/1958

Dedenevo , Moscow Region

Oleg Olegovich

Anishchik

Presnenskiy District Court of Moscow

29/07/2013

Moscow City Court

24/02/2014

Convicted of attempted swindling by a group of persons on preliminary collusion on a large scale

Mr Ya .,

Mr K.

53388/14

04/02/2015

Ali Sultanovich EDILKHANOV

19/05/1973

Moscow

Roza Saidovna Magomedova

Kuntsevskiy District Court of Moscow

29/04/2014

Moscow City Court

18/12/2014

Convicted of willful infliction of grievous bodily harm endangering life and health

Mr D.Z.,

Mr K.Z.,

Mr A.,

Mr O.,

Mr I.,

Ms R.,

Mr S.

61461/14

23/08/2014

Vladimir Vladimirovich TOMILIN

18/10/1989

Plavsk , Tula Region

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Matveychik

Ostankinskiy District Court of Moscow

25/09/2015

Moscow City Court

28/04/2016

Convicted of preparation for drug trafficking on a large scale

Mr B.

61609/14

06/08/2014

Igor Nikolayevich

RYABOV

23/06/1974

Krylovskaya , Krasnodar Region

Taganskiy District Court of Moscow

31/10/2013

Moscow City Court

02/04/2014

Convicted of swindling by an organized group

(9 episodes)

Mr K.,

Mr S.,

Mr Zh .,

Mr E.,

Mr Kh .,

Mr K.

77048/14

03/12/2014

Oleg Uruzmagovich TSIBIROV

27/04/1983

Moscow

Tverskoy District Court of Moscow

17/03/2014

Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

23/12/2014

Convicted of attempted drug trafficking, attempted drug trafficking on large scale and unlawful storage of drugs on a large scale

Ms S.,

Ms Y.

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