SAKHAROV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
Doc ref: 19264/13;37260/13;50115/13;3430/14;9733/14;10205/14;11907/14;12927/14;44802/14;58163/14;2329/15 • ECHR ID: 001-222020
Document date: November 24, 2022
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THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 19264/13 Dmitriy Borisovich SAKHAROV and Sergey Vladimirovich SOROKIN against Russia and 10 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 24 November 2022 as a Committee composed of:
Darian Pavli , President , Ioannis Ktistakis, Andreas Zünd , judges ,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, 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 is set out in the appended table.
The applicants were represented by Mr E. Mezak, a human rights defender from Syktyvkar.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 11 of the Convention concerning the restrictions on location, time or manner of conduct of public events were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”). In some of the applications, complaints based on the same facts were also communicated under Article 13 of the Convention (see the appended table).
On 20 March 2014 Mr A. Ostrovskiy, the second applicant in application no. 37260/13, died. By letter of 14 January 2015 his daughter Ms E. Ostrovskaya expressed her interest to pursue the proceedings before the Court in his stead. The Government did not comment on this matter.
THE LAW
Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
The applicants complained about the restrictions imposed by the authorities on the location, time or manner of conduct of public events and the absence of an effective domestic remedy in that regard. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Articles 11 and 13 of the Convention.
The Court does not consider it necessary to address the question as to the locus standi of Ms E. Ostrovskaya in the proceedings before it because the applications are in any event inadmissible for the following reasons.
The Court observes that the applicants challenged the decisions of the Syktyvkar City Administration refusing to approve the locations of their public events in the domestic courts after the planned dates of their public events. The Court has already found in Alekseyev v. Russia (nos. 4916/07 and 2 others, § 99, 21 October 2010) that the judicial remedy of a post-hoc character the applicants had recourse to was incapable of providing adequate redress in respect of the alleged violations of Article 11 of the Convention. It subsequently found a violation of Article 13 of the Convention owing to the absence of an effective domestic remedy (ibid., § 100). The applicants therefore should have been aware of the ineffectiveness of the judicial review as a remedy in respect of their complaints so as to reasonably anticipate the application of the six-month requirement in their case (see, for similar approach, Alekseyev and Others v. Russia , nos. 14988/09 and 50 others, §§ 14-16, 27 November 2018). Accordingly, they should have lodged their complaints within six months of the date of the Syktyvkar City Administration’s decisions refusing to approve the locations of their public events (see Komarova v. Russia (dec.) [Committee], no. 44570/11, § 18, 26 May 2020).
It follows that the applications are inadmissible for non-compliance with the six-month rule and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 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 15 December 2022.
Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 11 of the Convention
(Restrictions on location, time or manner of conduct of public events)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Location
Date of the public event planned
Restrictions applied
Decision by local authority
Name of local authority
Date
Other complaints under well-established case-law
Final domestic decision
(type of procedure)
Date
Name of the court
19264/13
09/02/2013
Dmitriy Borisovich SAKHAROV
1961Sergey Vladimirovich SOROKIN
1958Stefanovskaya square Syktyvkar
04/02/2012
Proposal to change the location, general prohibition on holding public events at certain locations (near the court buildings)
Syktyvkar City Administration
20/01/2012
—
Notification procedure:
07/03/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
37260/13
07/05/2013
(8 applicants)
Vladimir Vladimirovich ZUBKOV
1974Aleksandr Borisovich OSTROVSKIY
1964Deceased in 2014
Aleksandr Fedorovich SHCHIGOLEV
1961Igor Valentinovich SAZHIN
1963Leonid Aleksandrovich ZILBERG
1962Vera Petrovna TERESHONKOVA
1958Anastasiya Sergeyevna GRUMAND
1993Anton Aleksandrovich PAKHOMOV
1990Teatralnaya Square
Syktyvkar
10/12/2011
Proposal to change the location
Syktyvkar City Administration
08/12/2011
—
Notification procedure:
08/11/2012
Supreme Court of Komi Republic
50115/13
17/06/2013
Dmitriy Borisovich SAKHAROV
1961Sergey Vladimirovich SOROKIN
1958Teatralnaya Square
Syktyvkar
04/02/2012
Proposal to change the location
Syktyvkar City Administration
26/01/2012
—
Notification procedure:
17/12/2012
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
3430/14
17/12/2013
Darya Vladimirovna CHERNYSHEVA
1991Vyacheslav Sergeyevich SLYUSARYEV
1986Lenina street
Syktyvkar
31/03/2013
Proposal to change the location, general prohibition to hold LGBT event in view of the negative reaction of the society
Syktyvkar City Administration
25/03/2013
—
Notification procedure:
17/03/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
9733/14
14/01/2014
Olga Aleksandrovna KRUGLOVA
1984Aleksandr Aleksandrovich NITCHENKO
1984Syktyvkar Several manifestations planned between
14/09/2012 and 18/09/2012;
21/09/2012 and 25/09/2012;
28/09/2012 and 02/10/2012;
05/10/2012 and 12/10/2012;
13/10/2012 and 16/10/2012
Proposals to change the locations
Syktyvkar City Administration
05/09/2012;
12/09/2012;
20/09/2012;
27/09/2012;
04/10/2012;
05/10/2012
Art. 13 – lack of an effective remedy in domestic law in relation to Article 11 complaint
Notification procedure:
15/07/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
10205/14
21/01/2014
(3 applicants)
Igor Valentinovich SAZHIN
1963Semen Alekseyevich TERESHONKOV
1982Marina Sergeyevna SEDOVA
1988Stefanovskaya Square
Syktyvkar
17/06/2013
Proposal to change the location
Syktyvkar City Administration
11/06/2013
—
Notification procedure:
16/12/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
11907/14
27/01/2014
(3 applicants)
Natalya Alekseyevna BOYARINTSEVA
1975Olga Aleksandrovna KRUGLOVA
1984Alena Aleksandrovna GALINSKAYA
1982Stefanovskaya Square
Syktyvkar
24/06/2013
Proposal to change the location; general prohibition on holding public events at certain locations (near the court buildings)
Syktyvkar City Administration
18/06/2013
Art. 13 – lack of an effective remedy in domestic law in relation to Article 11 complaint
Notification procedure:
16/12/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
12927/14
28/01/2014
(4 applicants)
Tatyana Andreyevna KOROBOVSKAYA
1984Dmitriy Sergeyevich PATOV
1986Viktor Yevgenyevich DUDIN
1957Pavel Vladimirovich LOGOVSKIY
1982Stefanovskaya Square
Syktyvkar
20/06/2013;
21/06/2013;
23/06/2013.
Proposals to change the locations; general prohibition on holding public events at certain locations (near the court buildings)
Syktyvkar City Administration
18/06/2013
—
Notification procedure:
26/12/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
44802/14
28/05/2014
Svetlana Vladimirovna UVARKINA
1975Marina Sergeyevna SEDOVA
1988Square in front of the Prosecutor’s Office
Syktyvkar
04/06/2013
Proposal to change the location
Syktyvkar City Administration
30/05/2013
—
Notification procedure:
28/11/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
58163/14
16/07/2014
(4 applicants)
Aleksandr Valeryevich ZHIVOTKO
1973Olga Aleksandrovna KRUGLOVA
1984Yuliya Borisovna PLOTNIKOVA
1981Elvira Viktorovna BEREZA
1986Stefanovskaya Square
Syktyvkar
05/07/2013;
10/07/2013
Proposals to change the locations; general prohibition on holding public events at certain locations (near the court buildings)
Syktyvkar City Administration
01/07/2013
—
Notification procedure:
16/01/2014
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
2329/15
08/05/2013
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich NITCHENKO
1984Several locations
Syktyvkar
12/05/2012;
22/05/2012;
03/06/2012;
08/06/2012;
09/06/2012.
Proposals to change the locations
Syktyvkar City Administration
28/04/2012;
11/05/2012;
22/05/2012;
01/06/2012;
30/05/2012.
—
Notification procedure: 16/01/2013
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic
23/08/2012
Supreme Court of the Komi Republic (public event of 09/06/2012)