Published on 15 November 2020

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 41147/17 RUSSIAN POLITICAL PARTY VOLYA against Russia lodged on 24 May 2017 communicated on 25 October 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the decision of the Leninskiy District Court of Yekaterinburg of 9 July 2015 to declare the applicant party’s leaflet “Message to the Russian Servicemen” (“ Обращение к военнослужащим Российской армии” ) extremist. The applicant party was not involved in the court proceedings. Its appeal and cassation appeal were dismissed by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court on 12 April and 8 August 2016 respectively. The party’s subsequent cassation appeal to the Supreme Court of Russia was dismissed on 31 January 2017 on the grounds that the decision was lawful and that it did not affect the party’s rights or obligations.

The applicant party was later dissolved for its extremist activity including production and dissemination of the leaflet.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Was Article 6 § 1 of the Convention applicable to the proceedings concerning extremist nature of the leaflet “Message to the Russian Servicemen”? If so, has there been a violation of that Article? In particular, did the applicant party have access to a court and (or) have a fair hearing in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? Was the principle of equality of arms respected in those proceedings?

2. Has there been a violation of Article 10 of the Convention on account of the decision to declare that the leaflet “Message to the Russian Servicemen” was extremist? In particular, was there an interference with the applicant party’s freedom of expression within the meaning of Article 10 § 1 of the Convention? If so, was it prescribed by law? Did it pursue a “legitimate aim” within the meaning of Article 10 § 2 of the Convention? Was the interference shown to have been “necessary in a democratic society” (compare Mariya Alekhina and Others v. Russia , no. 38004/12, §§ 260-69, 17 July 2018, and Ibragim Ibragimov and Others v. Russia , nos. 1413/08 and 28621/11, § 100-24, 28 August 2018)?