THIRD SECTION

CASE OF MAKSIMOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Applications nos. 30757/17 and 29 others –

see appended list)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

9 February 2023

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

In the case of Maksimov and Others v. Russia,

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

Darian Pavli , President , Ioannis Ktistakis, Andreas Zünd , judges ,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 19 January 2023,

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 lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of the prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings. Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention and its Protocols.

THE LAW

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

6. The Court notes that one of the applicants, Mr Vladimir Vyacheslavovich Maksimov (application no. 30757/17), died on 7 June 2021 and his son Mr Vitaliy Vladimirovitch Maksimov, born on 10 October 2006 and represented by his mother Mrs Svetlana Vladimirovna Lobanova, expressed a wish to pursue the application.

7. The Court has accepted that the next-of-kin may in principle pursue the application, provided that he or she has sufficient interest in the case (see Centre for Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin Câmpeanu v. Romania [GC], no. 47848/08, § 97, ECHR 2014) and in ensuring that justice is done, even after the applicant’s death (see Malhous v. the Czech Republic (dec.) [GC], no. 33071/96, ECHR 2000-XII).

8. Having regard to the circumstances of the present case, the Court accepts that Mr Vitaliy Vladimirovitch Maksimov has a legitimate interest in pursuing the application in the stead of his late father. The Court will therefore continue dealing with the case at his request. For convenience, it will, however, continue to refer to the late applicant in the present judgment.

9. The applicants complained principally of the lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of the prosecuting party in administrative ‑ offence proceedings. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

10. The relevant principles of the Court’s case-law concerning the requirement of impartiality under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention can be found in the leading case of Karelin v. Russia (no. 926/08, §§ 51 ‑ 57, 20 September 2016, with further references). In that case the Court assessed the national rules of administrative procedure and concluded that the statutory requirements allowing for the national judicial authorities to consider an administrative offence case which falls within the ambit of Article 6 of the Convention under its criminal limb, in the absence of a prosecuting authority, was incompatible with the principle of objective impartiality set out in Article 6 of the Convention.

11. Having examined all the material submitted to it, having dismissed the Government’s objection of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies (see Smadikov v. Russia (dec.), no. 10810/15, 31 January 2017) and having due regard to the issue of compliance with the six-month period under Article 35 § 1 of the Convention (see Saakashvili v. Georgia (dec.), nos. 6232/20 and 22394/20, §§ 46-59, 1 March 2022, in which the Court addressed the COVID- related extension of the period in question), the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of the complaints in the present case.

12 . These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

13. Some applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention and its Protocols, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention and the Protocols thereto in the light of its well-established case-law (see Frumkin v. Russia , no. 74568/12, §§ 81-142, 5 January 2016, concerning disproportionate measures taken by the authorities against organisers and participants of public assemblies, Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia , nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 84-138, 10 April 2018, as regards unlawful deprivation of liberty, and Korneyeva v. Russia , no. 72051/17, §§ 62-65, 8 October 2019, concerning the right not be tried or punished twice in the criminal proceedings).

14. As regards other complaints under Article 6 of the Convention about the administrative-offence proceedings, submitted by the applicants, the Court, having reached the conclusion about the lack of impartiality of the tribunal under Article 6 of the Convention (see paragraph 12 above), does not consider it necessary to examine them separately.

15. Some applicants also raised other complaints under various Articles of the Convention.

16. The Court has examined the applications 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, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.

17. It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.

18. Article 41 of the Convention provides:

“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”

19. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case ‑ law (see, in particular, Kuratov and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 24377/15 and 2 others, 22 October 2019), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table and dismisses the remainder of the applicants’ claims for just satisfaction.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

(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 the award in respect of Mr Vladimir Vyacheslavovich Maksimov (application no. 30757/17) should be paid to his heir, Mr Vitaliy Vladimirovich Maksimov;

(c) 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 9 February 2023, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention

(lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of the prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings)

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

Representative’s name and location

Penalty

Date of final domestic decision

Name of court

Other complaints under well-established case-law

Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros) [1]

30757/17

12/04/2017

Vladimir Vyacheslavovich MAKSIMOV

1972Deceased in 2021

Heir:

Vitaliy Vladimirovich Maksimov

fine of RUB 5,000

07/12/2016, Volskiy District Court of Saratov Region

1,000

30781/17

13/04/2017

Nikolay Vasilyevich BALYNIN

1970Kostyushev Vladimir Yuryevich

Moscow

fine of RUB 30,000, suspension of driving licence for 1 year and 7 months

21/03/2017, Frunzenskiy District Court of Ivanovo

1,000

3309/18

11/12/2017

Anatoliy Andreyevich PROKOPOVICH

1996Peredruk Aleksandr Dmitriyevich

St Petersburg

administrative detention of 3 days,

fine of RUB 10,000

04/07/2017,

St Petersburg City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and escort to the police station on 12/06/2017-13/06/2017 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence; unrecorded detention until escort to the court on 13/06/2017. The applicant raised the complaint in the course of the administrative proceedings against him.

Prot. 7 Art. 4 - right not to be tried or punished twice in criminal proceedings - Final decision in both sets of proceedings – 04/07/2017, St Petersburg City Court;

Art. 19.3 § 1 CAO and Art. 20.2 § 5 CAO; overlap of the facts constituting the basis for the applicant’s prosecution in the second set of proceedings with substantially the same facts underlying his conviction in the first set of proceedings.

3,900

12786/18

06/03/2018

Arseniy Samvelovich ABRAAMYAN

1989Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

06/09/2017, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and escort to the police station for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence and subsequent detention on 26/03/2017 in excess of 3 hours - there were no reasons to take the applicant to the police station since the record could be drawn on the spot (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019) and the applicant’s detention exceeded 3 hours. The applicant raised this complaint before the domestic courts.

3,900

12791/18

06/03/2018

and

33691/19

14/06/2019

Vladislav Nikolayevich TOKAREV

1997Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fines of RUB 15,000 and

RUB 10,000

06/09/2017, Moscow City Court

and 14/12/2018,

Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 26/03/2017 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence (the complaint was raised in the course of the administrative proceedings) and - unlawful (unjustified) arrest on 28/10/2018; detention in excess of 3 hours (see Frumkin v. Russia, no. 74568/12, §§ 147-52, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 2016 (extracts))

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - Anti-Government manifestation in Tverskaya street on 28/10/2018. Applicant was subject to administrative charges under Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO and fined RUB 10,000.

3,900

16107/18

27/03/2018

Zaurbek Vladimirovich KORTYAYEV

1991Galuyev Agube Ruslanovich

Vladikavkaz

fine of RUB 30,000, suspension of driving license for 1 year and 6 months

22/03/2018, Sovetskiy District Court of Vladikavkaz

1,000

16977/18

31/03/2018

Ivan Sergeyevich GRAFSKIY

1992Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

04/10/2017, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - on 26/03/2017 the applicant was arrested and escorted to the police station - no reasons why the administrative offence record could not be compiled on the spot; the applicant’s arrest exceeded 3 hours. Complaint raised on appeal (see the judgment of the appeal court).

3,900

16984/18

31/03/2018

Rustam Dzhamshidovich IBRAGIMOV

1963Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

30/10/2017, Moscow City Court

1,000

17483/18

04/04/2018

Sergey Grigoryevich GRITSENKO

1956Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

16/10/2017, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - on 02/04/2017 the applicant was arrested and taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019). Complaint raised in the appeal proceedings (see the judgment of the appeal court)

3,900

17590/18

28/03/2018

Mark Olegovich PASHCHENKO

1999Sergeyeva Irina Vadimovna

Moscow

administrative detention of 15 days

10/11/2017, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - on 05/11/2017 at 1 p.m. the applicant was arrested and detained until on 07/11/2017 at 5 p.m. when he was convicted of an administrative offence. Complaint raised on appeal.

3,900

1087/19

03/12/2018

Vyacheslav Sergeyevich MOSIN

1981Kulakov Yevgeniy Valeryevich

Arkhangelsk

fine of RUB 30,000

26/11/2018, Solombarskiy District Court of Arkhangelsk

1,000

16009/19

06/03/2019

Dmitriy Viktorovich SYPCHENKO

1982Kulakov Yevgeniy Valeryevich

Arkhangelsk

suspension of driving licence for 1 year and 6 months, fine of RUB 30,000

23/10/2018, Solombalskiy District Court of Arkhangelsk

1,000

197/20

18/12/2019

Aleksey Valeryevich CHALIKOV

1987Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

30/07/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - conviction under Article 20.2 § 6 of CAO for participation on 12/06/2019 in Moscow in manifestation in support of Ivan Golunov, administrative fine of RUB 10,000. Moscow City Court on 30/07/2019 (appeal decision).

3,900

204/20

18/12/2019

Aleksandr Vladimirovich MARKELLOV

1994Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

02/08/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - conviction under Article 20.2 § 6 of CAO for participation on 12/06/2019 in Moscow in manifestation in support of Ivan Golunov, administrative fine of RUB 10,000. Moscow City Court on 02/08/2019 (appeal decision).

3,900

1838/20

27/12/2019

Vadim Vadimovich VOSTOKOV

1966Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

08/08/2019 Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - conviction under Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO for participation on 12/06/2019 in Moscow in manifestation in support of Ivan Golunov/ administrative fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court on 08/08/2019 (appeal decision).

3,900

11980/20

20/02/2020

Igor Aleksandrovich LARIONOV

1992Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

administrative detention of 15 days

04/10/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - the applicant’s arrest at the manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma in Moscow on 03/08/2019. Article 19.3 § 1 of CAO, 15-day administrative detention. Moscow City Court, 04/10/2019.

3,900

12528/20

21/02/2020

Sergey Anatolyevich CHUMAKOV

1984Yelanchik Oleg Aleksandrovich

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

22/08/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - complaint about unlawful detention on 14/07/2019 at 1:30 p.m., release on 15/07/2019 at 4 a.m. Raised on appeal

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma, Moscow, on 14/07/2019. Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court, 22/08/2019

3,900

13435/20

27/02/2020

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna SUCHKOVA

1974Antokhin Yevgeniy Vyacheslavovich

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

30/08/2020, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 27/07/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing a record of administrative offence

3,900

14096/20

29/02/2020

Aleksandr Alekseyevich KOSTYUKHIN

1958Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

30/08/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma in Moscow on 27/07/2019; convicted under Article 20.2 § 8 of CAO; fine of RUB 15,000, final - Moscow City Court, 30/08/2019

3,900

18238/20

19/03/2020

Ivan Sergeyevich SEMENYUK

1994Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

08/10/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - manifestation in support of Ivan Golunov in Moscow on 12/06/2019. Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000. Moscow City Court 08/10/2019

3,900

25335/20

16/05/2020

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich MERZLOV

1985Vologin Aleksey Borisovich

Volsk

suspension of driving licence for 1 year and 7 months,

fine of RUB 30,000

12/05/2020, Volskiy District Court of Saratov Region

1,000

25900/20

22/06/2020

Mikhail Davidovich NARODITSKIY

1974Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

14/10/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - arrest of the applicant at the manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma in Moscow on 10/08/2019. Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court, 14/10/2019.

3,900

26803/20

19/05/2020

Ilshat Nailevich ZAGIDULLIN

1975fine of RUB 15,000

06/11/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 03/08/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence

3,900

28133/20

15/06/2020

Yelena Igorevna OVSYANNIKOVA

1983Sekretareva Nataliya Mikhaylovna

Moskow

fine of RUB 10,000

02/12/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - manifestation in support of Ivan Golunov in Petrovka str., Moscow on 12/06/2019. Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000. Moscow City Court; 02/12/2019

3,900

28317/20

03/07/2020

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich SUKHOV

1988Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

14/11/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - the applicant’s arrest at the manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma in Moscow on 10/08/2019. Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court, 14/11/2019.

3,900

29889/20

13/07/2020

Anton Sergeyevich KOBETS

1988Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

12/11/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - on 10/08/2019 the applicant was arrested for the purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (see Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, § 34, 8 October 2019; Ryabinina and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 50271/06 and 8 other applications, § 35, 2 July 2019). Detention in excess of 3 hours until 00.30 a.m. on 11/08/2019 (raised on appeal)

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - conviction under article 20.2 § 5 of CAO for participation on 10/08/2019 in Moscow in manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma/ administrative fine of RUB 10,000. Moscow City Court on 12/11/2019 (appeal decision).

3,900

30020/20

23/06/2020

Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich VARSHAVER

1986Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 10,000

24/09/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis - arrest and detention on 12/06/2019 in excess of 3 hours for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence (raised in the administrative proceedings)

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - manifestation in support of I. Golunov in Moscow on 12/06/2019. Article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO fine of RUB 10,000. Moscow City Court, 24/09/2019

3,900

34309/20

22/07/2020

Maksim Ildarovich ALIBAYEV

1991fine of RUB 15,000

24/10/2019, Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - the applicant’s arrest at the manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma on 03/08/2019 in Moscow. Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court, 24/10/2019.

3,900

35186/20

11/08/2020

Andrey Vasilyevich ZOLOTOV

1983Memorial Human Rights Centre

Moscow

fine of RUB 15,000

20/11/2019, the Moscow City Court

Art. 11 (2) - disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies - the applicant’s arrest at the manifestation for fair elections to Mosgorduma on 03/08/2019 in Moscow. Article 20.2 § 5 of CAO, fine of RUB 15,000. Moscow City Court, 20/11/2019.

3,900

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