Communicated on 3 August 2020 Published on 24 August 2020

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 6549/20 Dmitriy Nikolayevich SHEVCHENKO against Russia lodged on 9 January 2020

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns irreducibility of the applicant ’ s whole life sentence which resulted from the murder committed by the applicant at the time when he had started serving that sentence. Pursuant to Article 79 § 5 of the Russian Criminal Code (“the CC”), the commission of a serious offence after conviction deprives a life prisoner of his entitlement to early release.

According to the applicant, his unlawful detention in an overcrowded cell together with other detainees, who should have been kept separately from him, contributed to the commission of that offence.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Is the applicant ’ s whole life sentence compatible with Article 3 of the Convention? In particular, is Article 79 § 5 of the CC applicable to him? Does he have any prospect of release or a possibility of review of his sentence? Is it irreducible de jure and de facto (see Murray v. the Netherlands [GC], no. 10511/10, §§ 99-100, 26 April 2016, and Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 66069/09 and 2 others, §§ 103-22, 9 July 2013)?