Published on 31 May 2021

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 9130/21 Yelizaveta Arkadyevna SHUMILOVA against Russia lodged on 9 March 2021 communicated on 10 May 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns a situation of domestic violence. Since August 2020 the applicant ’ s former partner has stalked and harassed her; he threatened to douse her with acid and accompanied his threats with photos taken inside her flat, causing her to seek refuge with a family member. The police refused to investigate on the grounds that the threats were not sufficiently “real”; the supervising prosecutor upheld the decision declining the institution of criminal proceedings as lawful and justified (most recently on 13 February 2021 – the Sovetskiy District Prosecutor ’ s office in Astrakhan).

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

As regards the alleged violations of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention in connection with the threatening conduct in respect of the applicant by her former partner (see Volodina v. Russia , no. 41261/17, § 75, 9 July 2019), did the Russian authorities discharge their obligation to protect her against all forms of violence? In particular,

(a) Did the Russian State discharge the obligation to establish and apply effectively a legislative framework for punishing all forms of domestic violence and providing sufficient safeguards for victims?

(b) Did the Russian authorities discharge the obligation to take the reasonable measures that might have been expected of them in the circumstances in order to avert further incidents after the applicant had reported the harassment to them? Did the Russian authorities design and implement a strategy for risk assessment and management of domestic violence?

(c) Did the Russian authorities discharge the obligation to conduct an effective investigation into all instances of threats which had been reported to them and to bring the perpetrator to account?