THIRD SECTION
CASE OF RAKOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 53786/21 and 12 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 Rakov 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 the disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies. They also raised other complaints under the provisions 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 disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies, namely their arrest in relation to the dispersal of these assemblies and their conviction for administrative offences. 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) and proportionality of interference with it (see Oya Ataman v. Turkey, no. 74552/01, ECHR 2006‑XIV, and Hyde Park and Others v. Moldova, no. 33482/06, 31 March 2009).
9. In the leading cases of Frumkin v. Russia, no. 74568/12, ECHR 2016 (extracts), Navalnyy and Yashin v. Russia, no. 76204/11, 4 December 2014 and Kasparov and Others v. Russia, no. 21613/07, 3 October 2013, 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 as to 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 interferences with the applicants’ freedom of assembly were 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 submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (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.
13. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that these complaints also disclose violations of the Convention in the light of its well-established case-law (see Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 115-31, 10 April 2018, and Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, §§ 34-36, 8 October 2019, as to various aspects of unlawful deprivation of liberty of organisers or participants of public assemblies; Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08, §§ 58-85, 20 September 2016, concerning the absence of a prosecuting party in the proceedings under the Code of Administrative Offences; Glukhin v. Russia, no. 11519/20, §§ 64-91, 4 July 2023, concerning unjustified processing of the applicant’s personal biometric data by using highly intrusive facial recognition technology in the proceedings under the Code of Administrative Offences, in order to identify, locate and arrest the applicant).
14. Some applicants raised additional complaints under Article 6 of the Convention concerning other aspects of fairness of the administrative-offence proceedings. In view of the findings in paragraphs 10-13 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints.
15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see in particular Navalnyy and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 25809/17 and 14 others, § 22, 4 October 2022), the Court finds it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
(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 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
(disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies)
Application no. Date of introduction | Applicant’s name Year of birth | Representative’s name and location | Name of the public event Location Date | Administrative / criminal offence | Penalty | Final domestic decision Court Name Date | Other complaints under well-established case-law | Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1] | |
53786/21 19/10/2021 | Pavel Vladimirovich RAKOV 1978 | Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich Vilnius | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Vladivostok
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Primorye Regional Court 27/04/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 31/01/2021 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (the complaint was raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings) | 4,000 | |
54255/21 13/10/2021 | Nikita Sergeyevich MATSUKOV 1998 | Akchermyshev Fedor Fedorovich Yekaterinburg | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Yekaterinburg
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | 30 hours of community work | Sverdlovsk Regional Court 14/04/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 31/01/2021 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (the complaint was raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
54258/21 12/10/2021 | Danil Olegovich GORBUNOV 2001 | Zubarev Dmitriy Vladimirovich Vladivostok | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Vladivostok
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | Primorye Regional Court 12/04/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention from 3.20 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. on 31/01/2021 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity; Detention as an administrative suspect: beyond the three-hour statutory period (Art. 27.5(1)-(4) CAO) (the complaints were raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
55639/21 19/10/2021 | Alisa Dmitriyevna SIBIRSKAYA 1998 | Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Mytishchi | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | Moscow City Court 19/05/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 31/01/2021 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (the complaint was raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
18120/22 16/03/2022 | Yuliya Dmitriyevna CHIGAREVA 1988 | Usanova Olimpiada Valentinovna Nizhniy Novgorod | Manifestation in
Nizhniy Novgorod
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 5,000 | Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court 16/09/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention from 12.30 p.m. to 11.00 p.m. on 31/01/2021 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (examined by the appeal court) | 4,000 | |
19603/22 12/03/2022 | Roman Maksimovich ABMOSOV 1995 | Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Mytishchi | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
23/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | fine of RUB 20,000 | Moscow City Court 05/10/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 23/01/2021 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
23045/22 27/03/2022 | Sergey Sergeyevich ROZHKOV 1975 | Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Mytishchi | Rally against constitutional amendments
Moscow
15/07/2020 | article 20.2 § 6.1 of CAO | fine of RUB 20,000 | Moscow City Court 21/10/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 15/07/2020 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
34169/22 01/07/2022 | Sergey Aleksandrovich TIKHONOV 1989 | Zhdanov Ivan Yuryevich Vilnius | Anti-war protest
Moscow
06/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 8 of CAO | detention for 15 days | Moscow City Court 21/03/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention from 4.30 p.m. on 06/03/2022 until 5 p.m. on 07/03/2022 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 5,000 | |
36828/22 20/07/2022 | Lyudmila Vladimirovna LYASHENKO 1963 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Anti-war protest
Moscow
06/03/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 20,000 | Moscow City Court 19/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 06/03/2022 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity; Detention as an administrative suspect: the applicant remained in detention after the offence record had been compiled (the complaints were raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
38204/22 21/07/2022 | Maksim Vladimirovich SEREGIN 2003 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
21/04/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Moscow City Court 29/03/2022 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,
Art. 8 (2) - restrictions on the right to private life of participants in public assemblies - use of facial recognition technology for the identification of the applicant as a participant of a rally and his subsequent conviction (raised on appeal) | 5,000 | |
38832/22 20/07/2022 | Ilya Grigoryevich SIMANOVSKIY 1981 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Anti-war protest
Moscow
24/02/2022 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | Moscow City Court 11/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 24/02/2022 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (the complaint was raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
39024/22 27/07/2022 | Yevgenuya Aleksandrovna KASVINA 1999 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
21/04/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 20,000 | Moscow City Court 27/01/2022 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings,
Art. 8 (2) - restrictions on the right to private life of participants in public assemblies - use of facial recognition technology for the identification of the applicant as a participant of a rally and her subsequent conviction (raised on appeal) | 5,000 | |
31240/23 17/11/2021 | Anton Stepanovich VOROBYEV 1985 | Zboroshenko Nikolay Sergeyevich Mytishchi | Rally “Free Navalnyy”
Moscow
31/01/2021 | article 20.2 § 5 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | Moscow City Court 05/07/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - Arrest and detention on 31/01/2021 - Applicant taken to the police station as an administrative suspect: no evidence/assessment that it was impracticable, on the spot, to compile the offence record (Art. 27.2 § 1 CAO) and achieve the objectives set out in Art. 27.1 CAO, e.g. to establish the suspect’s identity (the complaint was raised on appeal in the administrative proceedings),
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 |
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.