Lexploria

THIRD SECTION

CASE OF GENERALOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

(Applications nos. 57870/21 and 17 others â€“

see appended list)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

8 February 2024

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of Generalov and Others v. Russia,

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:

Peeter Roosma , President , Ioannis Ktistakis, Andreas ZÃ¼nd , judges , and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 18 January 2024,

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:

PROCEDURE

1. The case originated in applications against Russia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (â€œthe Conventionâ€) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.

2. The Russian Government (â€œthe Governmentâ€) were given notice of the applications.

THE FACTS

3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.

4. The applicants complained of the disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies. They also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.

THE LAW

5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.

6. The Court observes that the facts giving rise to the alleged violations of the Convention occurred prior to 16 September 2022, the date on which the Russian Federation ceased to be a party to the Convention. The Court therefore decides that it has jurisdiction to examine the present applications (see Fedotova and Others v. Russia [GC], nos. 40792/10 and 2 others, Â§Â§ 68 â€‘ 73, 17 January 2023).

7. The applicants complained principally of disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies, namely their arrest in relation to the dispersal of these assemblies and their conviction for administrative offences. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 11 of the Convention.

8. The Court refers to the principles established in its case-law regarding freedom of assembly (see KudreviÄius and Others v. Lithuania [GC], no. 37553/05, ECHR 2015, with further references) and proportionality of interference with it (see Oya Ataman v. Turkey , no. 74552/01, ECHR 2006 â€‘ XIV, and Hyde Park and Others v. Moldova , no. 33482/06, 31 March 2009).

9. In the leading cases of Frumkin v. Russia, no. 74568/12, ECHR 2016 (extracts), Navalnyy and Yashin v. Russia, no. 76204/11, 4 December 2014, and Kasparov and Others v. Russia, no. 21613/07, 3 October 2013, the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.

10. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion as to the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the interferences with the applicantsâ€™ freedom of assembly were not â€œnecessary in a democratic societyâ€.

11. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention.

12. Some applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention and its Protocols, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 Â§ 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible.

13. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that these complaints also disclose violations of the Convention and its Protocols in the light of its findings in Butkevich v. Russia , no. 5865/07, Â§Â§ 63-65, 13 February 2018, Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia , nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, Â§Â§ 115-31, 10 April 2018, and Korneyeva v. Russia , no. 72051/17, Â§Â§ 34-36, 8 October 2019, as to various aspects of unlawful deprivation of liberty of organisers or participants of public assemblies; Karelin v. Russia , no. 926/08, Â§Â§ 58-85, 20 September 2016, concerning the absence of a prosecuting party in the proceedings under the Code of Administrative Offences (the CAO); Martynyuk v. Russia , no. 13764/15, Â§Â§ 38-42, 8 October 2019, relating to the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal against the sentence of administrative detention.

14. Some applicants raised further complaints under Article 6 of the Convention alleging various aspects of unfairness of the administrative offence proceedings. In view of the findings in paragraph 13 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints.

15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case â€‘ law (see in particular Navalnyy and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 25809/17 and 14 others, Â§ 22, 4 October 2022), the Court finds it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;

(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 8 February 2024, pursuant to Rule 77 Â§Â§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Viktoriya Maradudina Peeter Roosma Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 11 of the Convention

(disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies)

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicantâ€™s name

Year of birth

Representativeâ€™s name and location

Name of the public event

Location

Date

Administrative / criminal charges

Penalty

Final domestic decision

Court Name

Date

Other complaints under well-established case-law

Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant

(in euros) [1]

57870/21

08/11/2021

Vadim Aleksandrovich GENERALOV

1991

Veronika Yuryevna Karagodina

St Petersburg

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

St Petersburg

31/01/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

St Petersburg City Court

22/06/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 31/01/2021 for compiling an offence report

4,000

57961/21

18/11/2021

Irina Andreyevna MAKSIMOVA

1995

Yelena Yuryevna Pershakova

Moscow

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Moscow

31/01/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 15,000

Moscow City Court

21/05/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 31/01/2021 for compiling an offence report

4,000

58136/21

11/10/2021

Yevgeniy Yevgenyevich KALENKOVICH

1988

Yelena Yuryevna Pershakova

Moscow

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Moscow

23/01/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 15,000

Moscow City Court

13/05/2021

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 23/01/2021 until 25/01/2021,

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings

4,000

58252/21

18/11/2021

Pavel Alekseyevich SHAPOSHNIKOV

1990

Yelena Yuryevna Pershakova

Moscow

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Moscow

31/01/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

Moscow City Court

19/05/2021

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 31/01/2021 for compiling an offence report,

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings

4,000

59678/21

18/11/2021

Vladislav Vladimirovich ISAK

1985

Yevgeniy Vyacheslavovich Antokhin

Moscow

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Moscow

31/01/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 15,000

Moscow City Court

25/05/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 31/01/2021 until 02/02/2021

4,000

60770/21

07/12/2021

Aleksandr Yevgenyevich RUDENKO

1991

Yelena Yuryevna Pershakova

Moscow

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Perm

31/01/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

Perm Regional Court

10/06/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 31/01/2021 for compiling an offence report

4,000

61175/21

23/11/2021

Aleksey Valeryevich VINNIKOV

2001

Konstantin Aleksandrovich Markin

Velikiy Novgorod

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Moscow

02/02/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

Moscow City Court

05/07/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 02/02/2021 for compiling an offence report

4,000

61237/21

21/11/2021

Dmitriy Mikhaylovich PETRIK

1989

Marina Alekseyevna Dubrovina

Novorossiysk

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Novorossiysk

21/04/2021

article 20.2.2 Â§ 1 of CAO

detention of 5 days

Krasnodar Regional Court

23/06/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - the sentence of administrative detention imposed on the applicant was executed immediately, on account of the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal under the CAO.

5,000

61339/21

21/11/2021

Lyubov Nikolayevna PARYGINA

1999

Marina Alekseyevna Dubrovina

Novorossiysk

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Anapa

21/04/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RU 10,000

Krasnodar Regional Court

30/06/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 21/04/2021 for compiling an offence report

4,000

61359/21

01/11/2021

Maksim Yuryevich BANYAYEV

1989

Konstantin Aleksandrovich Markin

Strasbourg

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Moscow

23/01/2021

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Moscow

02/02/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

article 20.2 Â§ 6.1 of CAO

fine of RUB 20,000

detention of 5 days

Moscow City Court

29/09/2021

Moscow City Court

21/05/2021

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention:

1) escorting to the police station on 23/01/2021 for compiling an offence report;

2) escorting to and detention at the police station after compiling an offence report from 12.20 p.m. on 02/02/2021 until 2.30 p.m. on 03/02/2021,

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in both sets of the administrative-offence proceedings,

Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - the sentence of administrative detention imposed on the applicant was executed immediately, on account of the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal under the CAO.

6,000

61531/21

06/12/2021

Kseniya Alekseyevna MAZUROVA

2002

Konstantin Aleksandrovich Markin

Velikiy Novgorod

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Velikiy Novgorod

21/04/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

20 hours of community work

Novgorod Regional Court

15/06/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 21/04/2021 for compiling an offence report

4,000

61752/21

21/11/2021

Aleksandr Alekseyevich ANTONOV

1994

Marina Alekseyevna Dubrovina

Novorossiysk

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Novorossiysk

21/04/2021

article 20.2.2 Â§ 1 of CAO

detention of 5 days

Krasnodar Regional Court

28/06/2021

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,

Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - the sentence of administrative detention imposed on the applicant was executed immediately, on account of the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal under the CAO.

5,000

61776/21

21/11/2021

Yekaterina Anatolyevna LAKHTIKOVA

1983

Roman Yevgenyevich Kachanov

Yekaterinburg

Rally "Free Navalnyy"

Ekaterinburg

31/01/2021

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

20 hours of community work

Sverdlovsk Regional Court

27/05/2021

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 31/01/2021 for compiling an offence report,

Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings

4,000

11758/23

02/03/2023

Lyubov Aleksandrovna PLOSHKINA

1999

Anti-war protest

Moscow

24/02/2022

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

Moscow City Court

03/11/2022

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 24/02/2022 for compiling an offence report

4,000

12162/23

25/02/2023

Yekaterina Andreyevna ZHILINA

1989

Natalya Andreyevna Baranova

Moscow

Anti-war protest

Moscow

24/02/2022

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 20,000

Moscow City Court

25/10/2022

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 24/02/2022 for compiling an offence report

4,000

12463/23

03/03/2023

Yekaterina Yevgenyevna ABAYEVA-GILDEBRAND

1999

Anti-war protest

Moscow

06/03/2022

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 20,000

Moscow City Court

03/11/2022

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 06/03/2022 for compiling an offence report

4,000

13472/23

13/02/2023

Marina Yuryevna LYUBIMOVA

1974

Anti-war protest

Moscow

13/03/2022

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 10,000

Moscow City Court

13/10/2022

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 13/03/2022 for compiling an offence report

4,000

14243/23

16/03/2023

Anastasiya Romanovna ANDRYUSHCHENKO

Anti-war protest

Moscow

24/02/2022

article 20.2 Â§ 5 of CAO

fine of RUB 15,000

Moscow City Court

21/11/2022

Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to the police station on 24/02/2022 for compiling an offence report

4,000

[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.

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CASE OF GENERALOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

CASE OF GENERALOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

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