THIRD SECTION
CASE OF SOKOLOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 34071/18 and 18 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
16 January 2025
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Sokolov and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Diana Kovatcheva, President,
Úna Ní Raifeartaigh,
Mateja Đurović, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 5 December 2024,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
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 restrictions on the location, time or manner of conduct of public events. Some applicants also raised complaints under Article 13 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, §§ 68‑73, 17 January 2023).
7. The applicants complained principally of the restrictions on the location, time or manner of conduct of public events listed in the appended table. 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 Kudrevičius and Others v. Lithuania [GC], no. 37553/05, ECHR 2015, with further references).
9. In the leading case of Lashmankin and Others v. Russia, nos. 57818/09 and 14 others, 7 February 2017, and, more recently, in Pleshkov and Others v. Russia, nos. 29356/19 and 31119/19, 21 November 2023, 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 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 interference with the applicant s’ freedom of assembly (for further details see the appended table) was either based on legal provisions which did not meet the Convention’s “quality of law” requirements, or was not “necessary in a democratic society”.
11. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention.
12. Some applicants raised other complaints under the Convention.
13. The Court has examined these complaints 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.
14. It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
15. Having regard to the nature of the applicants’ complaints, the Court considers that the finding of a violation constitutes sufficient just satisfaction for any non‑pecuniary damage the applicants may have suffered (see, among recent authorities, Pleshkov and Others, cited above, § 76, and the cases cited therein; see also, mutatis mutandis, Alekseyev and Others v. Russia, nos. 14988/09 and 50 others, § 29, 27 November 2018).
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
Done in English, and notified in writing on 16 January 2025, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Diana Kovatcheva
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 11 of the Convention
(restrictions on the location, time or manner of conduct of public events)
Application no. Date of introduction | Applicant’s name Year of birth
| Representative’s name and location | Location Date of the public event planned | Restrictions applied | Final domestic decision (type of procedure) Date Name of the court | |
34071/18 07/07/2018 | Yevgeniy Vladislavovich SOKOLOV 1960
|
| Belgorod
Rally to support A. Navalnyy’s presidential candidacy
16/09/2017
| proposal to change the time, proposal to change the manner of conduct | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 28/04/2018 | |
58503/18 29/11/2018 | Anton Viktorovich STRUNIN 1982 |
| Several locations in Penza
Numerous rallies planned between 07/05/2017 and 28/01/2018 | proposal to change the location, proposal to change the time
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issued between 31/05/2018 and 29/11/2018. | |
8092/19 26/01/2019 | Tatyana Viktorovna GRIGORYEVA 1983
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Movie theatre "Pobeda", Belgorod
Rally to support A. Navalnyy’s presidential candidacy
30/12/2017 | proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 20/11/2018 | |
15085/19 06/03/2019 | Lyubov Eduardovna SOBOL 1987
| Zamyatin Yevgeniy Mikhaylovich Berlin | Prospekt Sakharova, Moscow
Meetings with A. Navalnyy
14/10/2017, 21/10/2017, 26/11/2017. | proposal to change the location
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 11/09/2018 and 12/09/2018
| |
44574/19 09/08/2019 | Yelena Vasilyevna SYEDINA 1965
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya Square, Belgorod Demonstration against restricted access to the Belgorod water reservoir
06/12/2018 | proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 22/07/2019 | |
60677/19 11/11/2019
| Viktor Borisovich SOROKIN 1969
Arkadiy Yuryevich BULATOV 1980
Mikhail Viktorovich KONDRYUKOV 1975
Anna Viktorovna KONDRYUKOVA 1993
Olga Aleksandrovna KONDRYUKOVA 1956
Yelena Borisovna SIDOR 1985
Vladislav Viktorovich SOROKIN 2001
|
| Several locations in Novosibirsk
Several rallies planned between 17/08/2018 and 31/08/2018 | proposal to change the location, general prohibition on holding public events at certain locations (museum buildings) | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 13/05/2019 | |
4440/20 28/12/2019 | Tatyana Mikhayvna PAVLOVA 1985
| Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Several locations in Naro-Fominsk, Moscow Region
Protest against the building of a waste incineration plant 25/08/2018, 09/09/2018, 15/09/2018. | proposal to change the location
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 28/06/2019 and 09/07/2019 | |
17662/20 08/01/2020 | Vladimir Vladislavovich PLESHKOV 1964
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Okhotnyy Ryad, in front of the Russian State Duma building, Moscow
Series of pickets against pension reform on 13/04/2019, 30/05/2019, 15/06/2019, 02/08/2019. | proposal to change the location
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 06/12/2019, 09/12/2019.
| |
18629/20 02/04/2020 | Andrey Sergeyevich RUBAN 1985
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Rally calling for the release of political prisoners
07/10/2019 | proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 13/03/2020 | |
18726/20 02/04/2020 | Yuriy Ivanovich POLYAKOV 1952
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Demonstration against political repressions
03/10/2019 and 22/10/2019 | proposal to change the location
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 10/03/2020 and 13/03/2020
| |
25437/20 13/05/2020 | Yelena Vasilyevna SYEDINA 1965
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Demonstration against restricted access to the Belgorod water reservoir
14/11/2019 and 17/12/2019 | proposal to change the location
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 07/04/2020 and 03/07/2020 | |
32161/20 15/07/2020 | Tatyana Viktorovna GRIGORYEVA 1983
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Demonstration against restricted access to the Belgorod water reservoir
23/12/2019
| proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 23/06/2020 | |
37471/20 06/08/2020 | Maksim Yevgenyevich KLIMOV 1992
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Protest to demand the release of political prisoners
13/12/2019 | proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 22/06/2020 | |
38241/20 14/07/2020 | Vladimir Vladislavovich PLESHKOV 1964
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Tverskaya street (in front of Moscow Town Hall), Moscow
Protest to demand the release of political prisoners
25/11/2019 and 28/01/2020 | proposal to change the location
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 06/07/2020 and 17/07/2020 | |
41370/20 31/08/2020 | Ruslan Sergeyevich MORMYSHEV 1999
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Demonstration against restricted access to the Belgorod water reservoir
17/12/2019 | proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 03/07/2020 | |
41374/20 31/08/2020 | Valeriya Igorevna DRONOVA 1996
|
| Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Demonstration against restricted access to the Belgorod water reservoir
17/12/2019
| proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 03/07/2020 | |
41377/20 31/08/2020 | Kirill Sergeyevich DRONOV 1996
|
| Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Demonstration against restricted access to the Belgorod water reservoir
17/12/2019 | proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 03/07/2020 | |
41379/20 31/08/2020 | Tatyana Yuryevna SYEDINA 1997
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Sobornaya square, Belgorod
Demonstration against restricted access to the Belgorod water reservoir
17/12/2019 | proposal to change the location | Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 03/07/2020 | |
51025/20 13/10/2020 | Vladimir Vladislavovich PLESHKOV 1964
| Sokolov Yevgeniy Vladislavovich Belgorod | Tverskaya street (in front of Moscow Town Hall), Moscow
Protest to demand the release of political prisoners
10/12/2019, 31/12/2019, 14/02/2020, 02/03/2020, 16/03/2020 | proposal to change the location
| Judicial review under the Code of Administrative Procedure
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 08/09/2020 and 21/09/2020 |