Right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Russia: the Lashmankin and others case

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Right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Russia: the Lashmankin and others case

Lashmankin and others v Russia (Application No 57818/09+)

Briefed on 3rd March 2022 and 25th May 2021

Documents from the March 2022 briefing:

Documents from the May 2021 briefing:

The case was briefed by Denis Shedow, from OVD-Info and Tatiana Chernikova from HRC Memorial.

The Lashmankin group mainly concerns violations of the right to freedom of assembly in different Russian cities in 2006-2017 (violations of Article 11, interpreted in the light of Article 10), lack of an effective remedy in this respect (violations of Article 13 in conjunction with Article 11), deprivation of liberty of the participants in violation of domestic law (violations of Article 5 § 1), excessive use of force to disperse such events and failure to duly investigate it (violations of Article 3), blocking of internet posts calling for the participation in peaceful assemblies and convictions for such calls (violation of Article 10) and subsequent consideration of some of the cases related to these events in violation of in dubio pro reo principle in that the courts interpreted the doubts in favour of the police (violations of Article 6). The Court also found other violations in some of the cases.

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Domestic violence in Russia: The Volodina case

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Domestic violence in Russia: The Volodina case

Volodina v Russia (Application No 41261/17)

Briefed on 23rd November 2020

This case concerns domestic violence, including grave physical and mental suffering from physical and psychological abuse of the applicant over two years by her ex-partner. The applicant submitted over eight complaints to the authorities over two years: no attempt to protect the applicant from further violence or to open criminal proceedings against the (known) perpetrator. The presentation was given by Vanessa Kogan, Stichting Justice Initiative Executive Director.

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Non-enforcement of judicial decisions concerning child custody: The Khanamirova group of cases

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Non-enforcement of judicial decisions concerning child custody: The Khanamirova group of cases

Khanamirova group of cases v Russian Federation (Application No 21353/10)

  • Submission by Stichting Justice Initiative (April 2020)

The presentation was given by Stichting Justice Initiative. Prior to the presentation, there is a short introductory video involving interviews with victims of ongoing violations. All of the mothers in the videos have obtained judgments from the ECtHR or are involved in litigation there. You can also find here further information on custody rights/family kidnapping in Russia.

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Improper proceedings against the oil company Yukos

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Improper proceedings against the oil company Yukos

OAO Neftyanaya Kompaniya Yukos v Russian Federation (Appl. No. 14902/04)

Briefed on: 6th September 2021 and on 24 November 2017

The case concerns violations concerning tax and enforcement proceedings brought against the applicant oil company, leading to its liquidation in 2007.

Documents from the 2021 briefing:

DH-DD(2021)868: Rule 9.1 - Communication from the applicant (02/09/2021) in the case of OAO NEFTYANAYA KOMPANIYA YUKOS v. Russian Federation (Application No. 14902/04)

Documents from the 2017 briefing:

  • Memorandum of Piers Gardner, legal representative of Yukos

  • Case summary by the Council of Europe's Department for the Execution of Judgments

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Improper dismissal of a judge

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Improper dismissal of a judge

Kudeshkina v Russian Federation (Appl. No. 29492/05)

Briefed on: 5 September 2017

In this case, the ECtHR found that the applicant’s dismissal from the judiciary in 2004 to be in violation of Article 10 of the Convention as the penalty imposed on the applicant (i.e. early termination of office at the respective court as well as abrogation of the judge’s rank) for her comments critical of the Russian judiciary was disproportionately severe and capable of having a “chilling effect on judges who wish to participate in the public debate on the effectiveness of judicial institutions.”

  • Intervention by Karinna Moskalenko, legal representative of the applicant and Director of International Protection Centre
  • Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

 

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Unfair prosecution of Alexey Navalny and Petr Ofitserov

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Unfair prosecution of Alexey Navalny and Petr Ofitserov

Navalnyy and Ofitserov v Russian Federation (Appl. No. 46632/13) and Navalnyy v Russian Federation (App.No 101/15)

Briefed on: 5 September 2017 and 18 November 2021

The case concerned a complaint of arbitrary and unfair criminal proceedings that led to a conviction for embezzlement of property belonging to a Russian state company Kirovles by a prominent opposition politician and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny and a businessman Petr Ofitserov.

Documents from the November 2021 briefing:

Documents from the November 2017 briefing:

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Conditions of detention in Russian remand centres

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Conditions of detention in Russian remand centres

Ananyev and Others group and Kalashnikov group v Russian Federation (Appl. Nos. 42525/07, 47095/99)

Briefed on: 24 May 2017

In these cases, the Court found that poor detention conditions in Russian remand centres and lack of effective remedies to challenge it amounted to violations of Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention respectively. The Court highlighted this as a structural problem in the Russian Federation by applying a pilot judgment procedure in the case of Ananyev and Others. 

  • Case summary by the Council of Europe's Department for the Execution of Judgments
  • Action plan by the Russian authorities
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Violation of the right to education for 170 children

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Violation of the right to education for 170 children

Catan and Others v Moldova and Russia (Appl. Nos. 43370/04, 8252/05 and 18454/06)

Briefed on: 20 February 2017, 25 May 2021, 18 November 2021

The case concerns the violation of the right to education of 170 children or their parents from Latin-script schools located in the Transdniestrian region of the Republic of Moldova. Pursuant to the “Moldavian Republic of Transdniestria” “law” on languages, they had suffered from the forced closure of these schools between August 2002 and July 2004, as well as from measures of harassment, which the ECtHR found in violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 by the Russian Federation.

Documents from the November 2021 briefing:

  • Power point from Alexandru Postica and Ion Manole, Promo-LEX

  • Video about the impact of the non-implementation of the judgment, by Promo-LEX

Documents from the May 2021 briefing:

Documents from the February 2017 briefing:

  • Memo by Alexandru Postica, Human Rights Programme Director, PROMO-LEX, Moldova

  • Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

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Enforced disappearance in Chechnya

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Israilova and Others v Russia (Appl. No. 4571/04)

Briefed on: 29 November 2016

The case concerns enforced disappearance of the applicant's son and is being reviewed by the Committee of Ministers as a part of the Khashiyev and Akayeva group. The Court found violations of Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 5 (right to liberty and security), and Article 13 (effective remedy) in respect to a violation of Article 2 of the Convention.

  • Decision of the Committee of Ministers, December 2016
  • Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
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Banning of LGBTI protests

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Banning of LGBTI protests

Alekseyev v Russia (Appl. Nos. 4916/07, 25924/08, 14599/09) and Bayev v Russia (App. No 67667/090

Briefed on: 23 November 2018 and 28 November 2016

The Alekseyev v. Russia cases address repeated bans on demonstrations promoting tolerance and respect for the human rights of LGBTI persons, and the absence of an effective remedy to challenge those bans. The European Court of Human Rights found violations of Convention Articles 11 (right to freedom of assembly), 13 (right to an effective remedy), and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) taken in conjunction with Article 11.

The Bayev v. Russia case addresses violations of the right to freedom of expression and discrimination on account of fines imposed on the applicants for displaying banners considered to promote homosexuality among minors against the regional laws prohibiting such “propaganda”, adopted in several regions since 2006, and followed by a nation-wide law of 2013 similar to that effect (violations of Article 10 and of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 10).

Documents from the Nov 2018 briefing:

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Aerial bombardment, extra-judicial killings and torture in Chechnya

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Khashiyev v Russia (Lead: app. No. 57942/00), Abakarova and Others v. Russia (App. 16664/07)

Briefed on: 24 May 2016

This group of more than 200 cases arises predominantly out of the 1999-2006 Chechen conflict and includes cases of aerial bombardment, extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. In 2015, the Court rendered the third judgment concerning the bombing of the Katyr-Yurt village. Echoing the findings of Isayeva v. Russia (2005) and Abuyeva and others v. Russia (2010), the Court found in the Abakarova case that Russia violated article 2 (right to life) and article 13 (right to an effective remedy) by failing to investigate the Katyr-Yurt bombing and provide redress for victims. The Abakarova judgment became final on 14 March 2016.

Speaker: Kirill Korotev, legal director, Memorial Human Rights Centr

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