NEGULYAYEV v. RUSSIA (European Court of Human Rights)

Last Updated on April 24, 2019 by LawEuro

Communicated on 24 January 2019

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 49330/16
Maksim Vladimirovich NEGULYAYEV
against Russia
lodged on 11 August 2016

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Maksim Vladimirovich Negulyayev, is a Russian national, who was born in 1979 and is serving a prison sentence in Yoshkar‑Ola. He is represented before the Court by Mr V. Prilepskiy, a lawyer practising in Moscow.

The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

On 8 September 2012 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of having created an organised criminal group involved in consumer fraud.

On an unspecified date the Simonovskiy District Court of Moscow in a single judge formation opened a trial in respect of the applicant and 20 other defendants on the charges of fraud and participation in an organised criminal group. The applicant was also charged with having been a leader of an organised criminal group.

On 18 August 2015 the District Court found the defendants guilty as charged. The applicant was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine. The defendants appealed.

On 2 June 2016 the Moscow City Court established that the District Court had failed to consider the applicant’s request for his case to be considered by a three-judge panel. The City Court quashed the applicant’s conviction and remitted his case for fresh consideration to the District Court. When upholding the conviction of the other 20 defendants on appeal, the City Court amended the text of the judgment noting that they had committed the crimes in concert with a person whose case would be considered in a separate set of the criminal proceedings.

It appears that in a new trial, the District Court found the applicant guilty and sentenced him to a term of imprisonment.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complains under Article 6 § 2 of the Convention about a breach of the presumption of innocence by the Moscow City Court.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

As regards the statement contained in the judgment of the Moscow City Court of 2 June 2016 indicating that the defendants had committed the offences they were found guilty of in concert with a third person, who was in fact the applicant, was the presumption of innocence, guaranteed by Article 6 § 2 of the Convention, respected in the present case? Was it possible to identify the applicant from the text of the judgment?

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