CASE OF GARKOVENKO AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA (European Court of Human Rights) 33826/17 and 8 others

Last Updated on September 15, 2022 by LawEuro

The applicants complained of the permanent video surveillance of detainees in pre-trial or post-conviction detention facilities. Some applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.

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THIRD SECTION
CASE OF GARKOVENKO AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 33826/17 and 8 others – see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
15 September 2022

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

In the case of Garkovenko and Others v. Russia,

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

Darian Pavli, President,
Andreas Zünd,
Mikhail Lobov, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having deliberated in private on 25 August 2022,

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

4. The applicants complained of the permanent video surveillance of detainees in pre-trial or post-conviction detention facilities. 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 8 of the Convention

6. The applicants complained principally of the permanent video surveillance of detainees in pre-trial or post-conviction detention facilities. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 8 of the Convention, which reads as follows:

“1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private … life …

2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

7. The Court has already established, in an earlier case against Russia, that the national legal framework governing the placement of detainees under permanent video surveillance in penal institutions falls short of the standards set out in Article 8 of the Convention (see Gorlov and Others v. Russia (nos. 27057/06 and 2 others, 2 July 2019). In Gorlov and Others, the Court summed up the general principles concerning the detainees’ right to respect for private life reiterating that placing a person under permanent video surveillance whilst in detention was to be regarded as a serious interference with the individual’s right to respect for his or her privacy (ibid., §§ 81-82). It has further concluded that the national law (1) cannot be regarded as being sufficiently clear, precise or detailed to have afforded appropriate protection against arbitrary interference by the authorities with the detainees’ right to respect of their private life (ibid., §§ 97-98) and (2) does not presuppose any balancing exercise or enable an individual to obtain a judicial review of the proportionality of his or her placement under permanent video surveillance to the vested interests in securing his or her privacy (ibid., § 108).

8. 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. It considers, regard being had to the case-law cited above, that in the instant case the placement of the applicants under permanent video surveillance when confined to their cells in pre-trial and post-conviction detention facilities was not “in accordance with law”.

9. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Articles 8 of the Convention.

III. OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW

10. Some applicants submitted complaints under Article 13 of the Convention about the absence of an effective domestic remedy to complain about permanent video surveillance in detention facilities (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 a violation of Article 13 of the Convention in the light of its well-established case-law (see Gorlov and Others, cited above, §§ 106-10).

IV. REMAINING COMPLAINTS

11. In applications nos. 33826/17, 23615/18 and 39901/18 the applicants also raised other complaints under various Articles of the Convention.

12. 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

13. 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.”

14. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Gorlov and Others, cited above, with further references, § 120, which imposed on the respondent State a legal obligation, under Article 46 of the Convention, to implement, under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers, such measures as they consider appropriate to secure the right of the applicants and other persons in their position to respect of their private life), the Court considers that the finding of a violation constitutes a sufficient just satisfaction in the present case.

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,

1. Decides to join the applications;

2. Declares the complaints concerning the permanent video surveillance of detainees in pre-trial or post-conviction detention facilities 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. 33826/17, 23615/18 and 39901/18 inadmissible;

3. Holds that these complaints disclose a breach of Article 8 of the Convention concerning the permanent video surveillance of detainees in pre-trial or post-conviction detention facilities;

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 that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction.

Done in English, and notified in writing on 15 September 2022, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.

Viktoriya Maradudina                     Darian Pavli
Acting Deputy Registrar                    President

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APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 8 § 1 of the Convention
(permanent video surveillance of detainees in pre-trial or post-conviction detention facilities)

No.	Application no. Date of introduction	Applicant’s name Year of birth	Representative’s name and location	Detention facility	Period of detention	Specific circumstances	Other complaints under well-established case-law
1.	33826/17 18/04/2017	Roman Aleksandrovich GARKOVENKO 1987	Gavrilitsa Irina Aleksandrovna Krasnoyarsk	IK-17 Krasnoyarsk Region	06/10/2011 – 12/12/2017	detention in different cells with video surveillance, opposite-sex operators	Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in respect of permanent video surveillance in detention facilities
2.	2049/18 03/12/2017	Maksim Vladimirovich SINITSA 1983	Tolmacheva Mariya Valeryevna Saransk	SIZO-1 Krasnoyarsk Region	01/05/2014 – 26/06/2017	opposite-sex operators, detention in different cells with video surveillance, video surveillance in a lavatory and/or shower room
3.	23615/18 12/04/2018 Anonymat	Artem Melikovich CHAKRYAN 1979	Yefremova Yekaterina Viktorovna Moscow	SIZO -38/1 Irkutsk	19 – 22 January 2018	opposite-sex operators	Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of permanent video surveillance in detention facilities
4.	39901/18 21/08/2018	Pavel Vladimirovich GLAZUNOV 1974		IK-1 Komi Republic (disciplinary ward)	21/01/2020 – 26/01/2020 31/01/2020 – 20/02/2020	opposite-sex operators	Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of permanent video surveillance in detention facilities –
5.	47009/20 17/03/2021	Ilya Vitalyevich GORYACHEV 1982		IK-18 Yamalo Nenetskiy Autonomous Region	19/01/2017 – pending	detention in different cells with video surveillance, opposite-sex operators	Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in domestic law – in respect of permanent video surveillance in detention facilities.
6.	3349/21 16/12/2020	Zarifzhon Nurulloyevich MIRZONAZAROV 1981	Kudryavtsev Aleksey Gennadyevich Kolpino	Detention centre pending deportation. Orenburg Region	06/04/2020 – 14/07/2020	opposite-sex operators
7.	9896/21 15/01/2021	Tamerlan Akhmedovich DZHAMULAYEV 1982		IK-25 Komi Republic	10/02/2020 – pending	video surveillance in a lavatory and/or shower room, opposite-sex operators	Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of permanent video surveillance in detention facilities –
8.	11127/21 03/02/2021	Oleg Aleksandrovich DOROSHEV 1981		IK-31 Komi Republic	09/04/2019 – 13/12/2019, 07/03/2020 – 11/11/2020	detention in different cells with video surveillance, opposite-sex operators	Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of permanent video surveillance in detention facilities –
9.	16385/21 01/03/2021	Andrey Aleksandrovich TATARNIKOV 1976		Remand prison SIZO-1 in Moscow, IK-8 Yaroslavl Region, UKP-3 Kaluga Region	09/01/2016 – 29/04/2021	opposite-sex operators, detention in different cells with video surveillance	Art. 13 – lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of permanent video surveillance in detention facilities –