Last Updated on May 20, 2021 by LawEuro
THIRD SECTION
CASE OF MAKARENKO AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 7118/18 and 10 others – see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
20 May 2021
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Makarenko and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Darian Pavli, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Peeter Roosma, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 22 April 2021,
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 (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.
2. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of the applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained of the deficiencies in proceedings for review of the lawfulness of detention. Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
I. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
II. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 5 § 4 of the Convention
6. The applicants complained principally of the deficiencies in the proceedings for review of the lawfulness of detention. In particular, they alleged that the appeals against the detention orders had not been decided “speedily”. One of the applicants (application no. 35431/18) complained that his application for release had been dismissed without consideration. The applicants relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 5 § 4 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
Article 5 § 4
“Everyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings by which the lawfulness of his detention shall be decided speedily by a court and his release ordered if the detention is not lawful.”
7. The Court reiterates that Article 5 § 4 of the Convention, in guaranteeing to detained persons a right to institute proceedings to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, also proclaims their right, following the institution of such proceedings, to a speedy judicial decision concerning the lawfulness of detention and the ordering of its termination if it proves unlawful (see Baranowski v. Poland, no. 28358/95, § 68, ECHR 2000-III). Where an individual’s personal liberty is at stake, the Court has very strict standards concerning the State’s compliance with the requirement of speedy review of the lawfulness of detention (see, for example, Kadem v. Malta, no. 55263/00, §§ 44-45, 9 January 2003, where the Court considered a time‑period of seventeen days in deciding on the lawfulness of the applicant’s detention to be excessive, and Mamedova v. Russia, no. 7064/05, § 96, 1 June 2006, where the length of appeal proceedings lasting, inter alia, twenty-six days, was found to be in breach of the “speediness” requirement of Article 5 § 4).
8. In the leading cases of Idalov v. Russia [GC], no. 5826/03, §§ 152-58, 22 May 2012, and Khodorkovskiy v. Russia, no. 5829/04, §§ 237-41, 31 May 2011, the Court already found a violation in respect of the issues similar to those in the present case.
9. 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 on 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 appeal proceedings for the review of the lawfulness of the applicants’ pre-trial detention cannot be considered compatible with the requirements set out in Article 5 § 4 of the Convention.
10. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 5 § 4 of the Convention.
III. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW
11. In application no. 14756/19 the applicant submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention (see the appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that they also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its well-established case-law (see Svinarenko and Slyadnev v. Russia [GC], nos. 32541/08 and 43441/08, ECHR 2014 (extracts), and Idalov, cited above, concerning the use of metal cages during court hearings, conditions of detention during transport and lack of any effective remedy in this regard).
IV. REMAINING COMPLAINTS
12. In applications nos. 9564/18 and 14756/19 the applicants also complained about the length of pre-trial detention under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention.
13. The Court has examined the applications and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.
It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
V. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
14. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to the injured party.”
15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Oravec v. Croatia, no. 51249/11, §§ 78-80, 11 July 2017, Ayboğa and Others v. Turkey, no. 35302/08, §§ 28-30, 21 June 2016, Doherty v. the United Kingdom, no. 76874/11, §§ 113-115, 18 February 2016, Albrechtas v. Lithuania, no. 1886/06, §§ 87-89, 19 January 2016 and Karaosmanoglu and Özden v. Turkey, no. 4807/08, §§ 89-91, 17 June 2014), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
16. The Court considers it appropriate that the default interest rate should be based on the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank, to which should be added three percentage points.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
1. Decides to join the applications;
2. Declares the complaints concerning the deficiencies in the proceedings for review of the lawfulness of detention and the other complaints under well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and the remainder of applications nos. 9564/18 and 14756/19 inadmissible;
3. Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 5 § 4 of the Convention concerning the deficiencies in proceedings for review of the lawfulness of detention;
4. Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention as regards the other complaints raised under well-established case-law of the Court (see the appended table);
5. Holds
(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 20 May 2021, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli
Acting Deputy Registrar President
____________
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 5 § 4 of the Convention
(deficiencies in proceedings for review of the lawfulness of detention)
| No. | Application no.
Date of introduction |
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
|
Representative’s name and location | First-instance court and date of detention order | Appeal instance court and date of decision | Procedural deficiencies | Other complaints under well-established case-law | Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[i] |
| 1. | 7118/18
18/01/2018 |
Andrey Vladimirovich MAKARENKO
1978 |
|
Chertanovskiy District Court of Moscow
07/09/2017 |
Moscow City Court
18/10/2017 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 2. | 9564/18
02/02/2018 |
Ildus
Basirovich SITDIKOV 1957 |
Baranovskiy Konstantin Viktorovich
Moscow |
Basmannyy District Court of Moscow
10/11/2017 |
Moscow City Court 17/01/2018 | Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 3. | 24194/18
08/05/2018 |
Vladimir Sergeyevich NIKITIN
1982 |
|
Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic
03/11/2017 |
Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic
08/12/2017 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 4. | 35431/18
17/07/2018 |
Vagit Viktorovich USMANOV
1989 |
|
Kochubeyevskiy District Court of the Stavropol Region
25/04/2018 |
Stavropol Regional Court
01/06/2018 |
The domestic courts refused to examine the applicant’s application for release. | 500 | |
| 5. | 37944/18
06/06/2018 |
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich KOTOVSKIY
1988 |
|
Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic
05/03/2018 05/12/2018 |
Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic
03/04/2018 15/01/2019 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 6. | 45607/18
20/07/2018 |
Arslon
Rustamovich DZHUMAYEV 1988 |
|
Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic
06/03/2018 |
Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic
17/04/2018 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 7. | 56388/18
16/11/2018 |
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich GEBERT
1981 |
|
Tsentralniy District Court of Volgograd
02/07/2018 |
Volgograd Regional Court
30/07/2018 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 8. | 59544/18
27/11/2018 |
Dmitriy
Viktorovich ZAKHARCHENKO 1978 |
Novikov Yuriy Gennadyevich
Tver |
Moscow City Court
30/05/2018
Presnenskiy District Court of Moscow 02/08/2018 |
Moscow City Court
10/07/2018
Moscow City Court 10/09/2018 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 9. | 14756/19
01/03/2019 |
Vyacheslav Yevgenyevich KIRILYUK
1966 |
Shukhardin Valeriy Vladimirovich
Moscow |
Zamoskvoretskiy District Court of Moscow:
06/08/2018 08/11/2018 06/05/2019 08/07/2019 |
Moscow City Court:
12/09/2018 06/02/2019 03/06/2019 05/08/2019 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | Art. 3 – inadequate conditions of detention during transport – transport from the remand prison to court hearings on numerous occasions since 26/02/2018; overcrowding, lack of fresh air, inadequate temperature;
Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of inadequate conditions of detention during transport – and in respect of placement in a metal cage during court hearings;
Art. 3 – use of metal cages and/or other security arrangements in courtrooms – detention in the courtrooms of the Zamoskvoretskiy District Court of Moscow in a metal cage on numerous occasions, from 26/02/2018 to 30/10/2019. |
5,050 |
| 10. | 24218/19
08/04/2019 |
Oleg Valentinovich SOROKIN
1967 |
Ryzhov Anton Igorevich
Nizhniy Novgorod |
Nizhegorodskiy District Court of Nizhniy Novgorod, 19/10/2018 | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court, 21/11/2018 | Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 | |
| 11. | 34670/19
07/06/2019 |
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich VYSOKIKH
1966 |
|
Arkhangelsk Regional Court
25/12/2018 |
Arkhangelsk Regional Court
29/01/2019 |
Lack of speediness of review of detention. | 500 |
[i] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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