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POPOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
Doc ref: 10093/06, 26702/06, 3344/07, 19677/07, 20681/07, 26513/07, 32207/07, 33783/07, 41823/07, 26663/08, 2... • ECHR ID: 001-187272
Document date: September 25, 2018
- Inbound citations: 1
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- Cited paragraphs: 0
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- Outbound citations: 5
POPOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
Doc ref: 10093/06, 26702/06, 3344/07, 19677/07, 20681/07, 26513/07, 32207/07, 33783/07, 41823/07, 26663/08, 2... • ECHR ID: 001-187272
Document date: September 25, 2018
Cited paragraphs only
THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 10093/06 Yevgeniy Valeryevich POPOV against Russia and 19 other applications (see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 25 September 2018 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 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 2005 and 2011 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.
THE LAW
10. 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.
11. The respondent Government in their observations argued that 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.
12. Certain applicants disagreed, while the others did not provide specific arguments.
13. 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, 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 18 October 2018 .
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 courts ’ judgments
Witness absent from trial
10093/06
16/02/2006
Yevgeniy Valeryevich POPOV
11/05/1973
Kharp
Perm Regional Court
10/06/2005
Supreme Court of
the Russian Federation
29/09/2005
Convicted of murder of several persons in conspiracy
Mrs K.
26702/06
31/05/2006
Aleksey Nikolayevich KOZLOV
11/03/1965
Petropalovsk-Kamchatskiy
Anne LE TALLEC
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy Town Court of the Kamchatka region
03/08/2005
Kamchatka Regional Court
06/12/2005
Convicted of money-laundering and abuse of power
Mr S., Mr. A.,
Mr L., Mr K.,
Mr Z., Mr Al., Mr M.
3344/07
12/11/2006
Anton Sergeyevich SAGOKON
05/12/1987
Rostov-na-Donu
Mikhail Valeryevich SHOLOKHOV
Taganskiy Town Court of the Rostov Region
15/03/2006
Rostov Regional Court
27/06/2006
Convicted of counterfeiting of money in conspiracy
Mr N.
19677/07
09/01/2007
Sergey Alekseyevich MIKHAYLOV
27/10/1978
Pskov
Pskovskiy Town Court of the Pskov Region
30/06/2006
Pskov Regional Court
02/08/2006
Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that led to the victim ’ s death
Mrs Zh., Mrs I.,
Mrs T., Mr G.
20681/07
18/04/2007
Azamat Aydynovich KHANMAGOMEDOV
01/07/1979
Moskow
Tverskoy District Court of Moscow
30/11/2006
Moscow City Court
14/03/2007
Convicted of kidnaping and extortion in conspiracy
Mr M.
26513/07
27/04/2007
Dmitriy Viktorovich GENNE
23/06/1974
Moscow
Viktor Viktorovich GENNE
10/04/1979
Penza
Basmannuy District Court of Moscow
26/06/2006
Moscow City Court
18/12/2006
Convicted of fraud in conspiracy
Mr V., Mr Ch., Mr K., Mr A. S., Mr O. S., Mr Sh., Mr Kich.,
Mr Ker.,
Mr A. A.,
Mr S. A.
32207/07
19/06/2007
Olga Gaborovna FEGER
29/04/1975
Kropotkin
Justice of the Peace of the 66th Court Circuit of Kropotkin of the Krasnodar Region
20/06/2006
Kropotkinskiy Town Court of the Krasnodar Region
07/09/2006
Krasnodar Regional Court
20/12/2006
Convicted of embezzlement
Mrs Tk., Mrs T., Mrs K., Mrs S.
33783/07
26/07/2007
Vladimir Leonidovich GERASIMOV
19/12/1967
Ukhta
Frunzenskiy District Court of
St Petersburg
21/12/2006
St Petersburg City Court
12/03/2007
Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that led to the victim ’ s death
Mr R.
41823/07
05/09/2007
Askhat Aipkanovich SULTANOV
20/03/1977
Skopin
Dmitriy Arkadyevich DENISOV
Krasnoyarskiy District Court of the Astrakhan Region
09/03/2007
Astrakhan Regional Court
10/05/2007
Convicted of kidnapping of several people, human trafficking and abuse of power
Mr B., Mr S.,
Mr E., Mr Kh.
26663/08
24/04/2008
Oleg Anatolyevich ZLOTNIKOV
16/12/1960
Oktyabrskiy
Dmitriy Aleksandrovich FIRSOV
Moscow Regional Court
15/08/2007
Supreme Court of
the Russian Federation
25/10/2007
Convicted of organising an assassination
Mr A.
27663/08
16/04/2008
Svetlana Anatolyevna SADUAKASOVA
16/10/1966
Gorno-Altaysk
Oleg Olegovich ANISHCHIK
Gorno-Altayskiy Town Court of the Republic of Altay
07/09/2007
Supreme Court of
the Republic of Altay
17/10/2007
Convicted of receiving the state subsidies by fraud
Mr S.
43369/08
28/07/2008
Yuriy Anatolyevich KUZNETSOV
16/11/1962
Torbeyevo
Bryansk Regional Court
10/04/2008
Supreme Court of
the Russian Federation
31/10/2011
Convicted of organisation of a criminal gang and several counts of aggravated robbery, extortion and murders
Mr P., Mrs Z.
53982/08
11/09/2008
Vladimir Nikolayevich KACHAYEV
01/09/1974
Erik
Sergey Ivanovich PETRYAKOV
Chertanovskiy District Court of Moscow
23/04/2008
Moscow City Court
02/06/2008
Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that led to the victim ’ s death
Mrs Kh.
61834/08
14/10/2008
Dmitriy Viktorovich NIKULIN
06/08/1968
Moscou
Valeriy Vladimirovich SHUKHARDIN
Perovskiy District Court of Moscow
03/03/2008
Moscow City Court
21/04/2008
Convicted of attempted murder
Mr T.
6070/09
04/12/2008
Aleksey Nikolayevich GUROV
06/06/1979
Skopin
Stavropolskiy District Court of the Samara Region
16/06/2008
Samara Regional Court
30/09/2008
Convicted of murder in conspiracy
Mr A.
9243/09
18/12/2008
Aleksandr Arsenyevich KOSULNIKOV
01/02/1970
Verkhnyaya Pyshma
Verkhnepyshminskiy Town Court of the Sverdlovsk Region
02/04/2008
Sverdlovsk Regional Court
25/07/2008
Convicted of abuse of power and sexual assault
Mrs T., Mrs P., Mrs Zh., Mr Zh., Mr K., Mr D.,
Mr T., Mrs Y.
22248/09
19/03/2009
Aleksandr Mikhaylovich KAPLUNOV
06/12/1970
Volgograd
Dzerzhinskiy District Court of Volgograd
30/05/2008
Volgograd Regional Court
21/10/2008
Convicted of fraud and attempted drug dealing
Mr S.
25486/09
17/11/2008
Vladimir Viktorovich SHCHETKIN
13/06/1977
Dimitrovgrad
Yelena Nikolayevna YAZYCHENKO
Dimitrovgradskiy Town Court of the Ulyanovsk Region
17/07/2008
Ulyanovsk Regional Court
03/09/2008
Convicted of participation drug dealing in conspiracy
Mr So., Mr St., Mr P.P., Mr P.A., Mrs P.G., Mrs K., Mr Pr., Mr Pe.
32673/09
04/05/2009
Susanna Yuryevna GRIGORYAN
01/07/1979
Rostov-na-Donu
Oktyabrskiy District Court of the Rostov Region
21/08/2008
Rostov Regional Court
18/02/2009
Convicted of attempted drug dealing
Mr T.
38526/09
27/05/2009
Sergey Vyacheslavovich KONOVALOV
01/11/1971
Novosibirsk
Sovetskiy District Court of Novosibirsk
24/01/2008
Novosibirsk Regional Court
10/12/2008
Convicted of assaulted robbery in conspiracy
Mrs I.
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