Published on 20 September 2021

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 17841/17 Yuriy Aleksandrovich LYSENKO against Ukraine lodged on 13 August 2015 communicated on 30 August 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns complaints regarding the length of criminal proceedings and an allegedly unjustified retention by the law-enforcement authorities of the applicant’s passport and other personal documents. The applicant refers to Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention.

The сriminal proceedings at issue, which concerned allegations of corruption, lasted from 13 December 2011 until 9 February 2015 for one level of jurisdiction and were eventually discontinued on the ground that there was insufficient corroborating evidence against the applicant.

On numerous occasions the applicant unsuccessfully requested the law ‑ enforcement authorities to return his personal documents (in particular, his passport, diplomas and a driver’s license) seized on 15 December 2011 within the framework of the above proceedings. On 11 June 2015 he obtained a court ruling obliging the prosecutor’s office to act in addressing his requests. The applicant’s passport has never been returned to him without any clear reason having been advanced. Other personal documents seized in December 2011 were returned to the applicant in September 2015.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Was the length of the criminal proceedings in the present case in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?

2. Has there been an interference with the applicant’s right to respect for his private life, within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention, on account of retention by the law-enforcement authorities of his passport and other personal documents? If so, was that interference in accordance with the law and necessary in terms of Article 8 § 2 (compare Smirnova v. Russia , nos. 46133/99 and 48183/99, §§ 95-100, ECHR 2003 ‑ IX (extracts) and Kotiy v. Ukraine , no. 28718/09, §§ 62-76, 5 March 2015).

The parties are invited to comment on the exhaustion of domestic remedies in respect of the present complaint and to provide examples of relevant domestic court decisions and other pertinent material, if any.