THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 60316/08 Bella Andreyevna KOCHNEVA against Russia and 6 other applications (see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 18 January 2018 as a Committee composed of:

Luis López Guerra, President, Dmitry Dedov, Jolien Schukking, judges,

and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting 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,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicants and the relevant details of the application s are set out in the appended table.

The applicants ’ complaints under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of pre-trial detention were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”) . Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.

THE LAW

A. Joinder of the applications

Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

B. Complaints under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention ( excessive length of pre-trial detention )

In the present applications, having examined all the material before it, the Court considers that for the reasons stated below, the respondent Government cannot be held liable for the alleged violations of the Convention.

In particular, in application no. 60316/08, the latest detention order in the applicant ’ s criminal proceedings in respect of which she brought an appeal was the decision of the Kimrskiy District Court of Tver dated 13 April 2007. The applicant ’ s appeal was rejected by the Tver Regional Court on 24 May 2007. The application was lodged with the Court on 8 September 2008, which is more than six months later. The applicant did not appeal against any subsequent detention order issued after 13 April 2007. It follows that the complaint about the unreasonably long detention on remand raised in application no. 60316/08 should be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention.

As regards the complaints under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention raised in the remaining applications, the Court notes the relatively short duration of the pre-trial detention for the majority of the applicants. It further observes that while extending the applicants ’ detention the domestic courts had relied on the existence of a reasonable suspicion of their involvement in aggravated violent criminal offences, the particular vulnerability of the victims, the complexity of the criminal cases against the applicants and the existence of a serious risk of their absconding or interfering with justice, confirmed, inter alia , by the pattern of their behavior or psychological condition (see Rydz v. Poland , no. 13167/02, 18 December 2007). The Court is satisfied that the domestic courts cited specific facts in support of their conclusions that the applicants were liable to obstruct justice, to re-offend or abscond. They also considered a possibility of applying alternative measures, but found them to be inadequate at the time. The domestic courts duly examined all the pertinent factors and gave “relevant” and “sufficient” reasons to justify the applicants ’ continued detention. The Court also finds that the domestic authorities displayed “special diligence” in the conduct of the proceedings (see, for example, Khloyev v. Russia , no. 46404/13 , §§ 96 ‑ 107, 5 February 2015; Topekhin v. Russia , no. 78774/13 , 10 May 2016; Sopin v. Russia , no. 57319/10, 18 December 2012; and Isayev v . Russia , no. 20756/04, 22 October 2009).

In view of the above, the Court finds that the applicants ’ complaints are manifestly ill-founded and must be reje cted in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.

C. Remaining complaints

The applicant in application no. 60316/08 also complained under Article 6 of the Convention about the excessive length of the criminal proceedings.

The Court has examined the complaint 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, it does not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention and does 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 .

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Declares the application s inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 8 February 2018 .

  Liv Tigerstedt Luis López Guerra              Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant name

Date of birth

Representative name and location

Period of detention

60316/08

08/09/2008

Bella Andreyevna Kochneva

07/01/1984

Nagornyy Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich

Kimry, Tver Region

28/05/2004 to

31/07/2006

16/01/2007 to

12/03/2008

11840/15

16/02/2015

Yevgeniy Viktorovich Bogomyagkov

24/10/1959

10/06/2014 to

19/02/2015

19897/16

13/07/2016

Eduard Aleksandrovich Shilintsev

26/01/1965

Dubonosova Anna Eduardovna

Velikiy Novgorod

19/10/2015

pending

53775/16

03/09/2016

Tatyana Nikolayevna Stepanova

05/01/1974

17/02/2016 to

31/05/2016

56996/16

16/09/2016

Elkhan Vekil Ogly Guseynov

05/04/1971

Losev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich

Syktykvar

21/04/2016 to

08/08/2016

67008/16

19/10/2016

Almaz Arslanovich Galeyev

17/04/1980

11/12/2013 to

23/03/2017

1194/17

22/12/2016

Dmitriy Sergeyevich Minenkov

01/10/1985

24/06/2016 to

17/01/2017