Communicated on 2 October 2020 Published on 19 October 2020

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 5863/20 Dmitriy Nikolayevich KOVALCHUK against Russia lodged on 21 January 2020

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the granting of a residence order in respect of the applicant ’ s children to the mother. The expert psychologists and the childcare authorities found that it would be in the children ’ s best interests to live with the father. The domestic courts found “no exceptional circumstances justifying [the children] ’ s separation from their mother”.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Did the decision to grant the residence order in respect of his children to their mother violate the applicant ’ s right to respect for his family life, guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention? Did the domestic courts give sufficient reasons for their decision to give the residence order to the mother? In particular, did they conduct an in ‑ depth examination of the entire family situation and a whole series of relevant factors, in particular factors of a factual, emotional, psychological, material and medical nature, and did they make a balanced and reasonable assessment of the respective interests of each person, with a constant concern for determining what the best solution would be for the children (see Petrov and X v. Russia , no. 23608/16 , § 98, 23 October 2018, with further references)? The parties are requested to submit copies of the childcare authorities ’ opinions, and to indicate the date of the applicant ’ s separation from his former wife.

2. Did the decision to grant the residence order to the children ’ s mother rather than to the applicant on the sole ground that “there were no exceptional circumstances justifying [the children] ’ s separation from their mother” amount to discrimination against the applicant on grounds of sex, contrary to Article 14 of the Convention read in conjunction with Article 8?