THIRD SECTION
CASE OF BOROVINSKIKH AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 50074/18 and 25 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
12 June 2025
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Borovinskikh and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Diana Kovatcheva, President,
Mateja Đurović,
Canòlic Mingorance Cairat, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 22 May 2025,
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 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 primarily complained of restrictions on their right to freedom of expression arising from their prosecution in criminal and administrative proceedings for “discrediting” the Russian military and spreading “fake news” about its actions. They also raised other complaints under various Convention provisions.
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 constitutive of the alleged interference with the applicants’ rights occurred prior to 16 September 2022, the date on which the Russian Federation ceased to be a Party to the Convention. The Court therefore has jurisdiction to examine the present applications (see Pivkina and Others v. Russia (dec.), nos. 2134/23 and 6 others, §§ 75-77, 6 June 2023).
7. The Court further notes, with regard to application no. 28789/22 where the applicant was convicted by courts in Crimea, that the Russian Federation has exercised jurisdiction over Crimea at least since 18 March 2014 (see Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea) [GC], nos. 20958/14 and 38334/18, § 873, 25 June 2024). Accordingly, the events the applicant complained of in that application fall within the “jurisdiction” of the respondent Government and the Court has competence to examine them.
8. The applicants primarily complained of restrictions on their freedom of expression in relation to their expressions of support for Ukraine and calls for peace. They relied on Article 10 of the Convention.
9. In the leading case of Novaya Gazeta and Others v. Russia (nos. 11884/22 and 161 others, 11 February 2025), the Court has already found a violation of Article 10 in respect of issues similar to those raised in the present case. With regard to the legislation introduced in Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 which criminalised the act of “discrediting the military”, the Court found that there had been a systemic and widespread pattern of reporting restrictions related to the war in Ukraine. This revealed a coordinated effort to suppress dissent rather than to counter any threat to national security. The domestic authorities systematically suppressed any form of expression that contradicted the official narrative, which described the invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation”. The domestic courts made no effort to balance the competing interests at stake, particularly with regard to matters of intense public interest, namely a major armed conflict and allegations of war crimes.
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 the complaints in the present case.
11. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 10 of the Convention.
12. Some applicants submitted additional complaints, as listed in the appended table, which raise issues under the Convention in light of the Court’s well-established case-law. 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 these complaints disclose violations of the Convention in accordance with its case-law (see, in relation to Article 5: Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, 8 October 2019, concerning excessive recourse to the escorting procedure; Article 6: Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08, 20 September 2016, concerning the conduct of administrative-offence trials in the absence of a prosecutor; and Article 11: Navalnyy and Yashin v. Russia, no. 76204/11, 4 December 2014, and Kasparov and Others v. Russia, no. 21613/07, 3 October 2013, concerning disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public events; Article 10: Karuyev v. Russia, no. 4161/13, 18 January 2022, and Handzhiyski v. Bulgaria, no. 10783/14, 6 April 2021, concerning various aspects of the right to freedom of expression; see also the cases cited in the appended table in respect of other issues).
13. Finally, the applicants further raised additional complaints under other provisions, including in particular Article 18 of the Convention. The Court considers that it has examined the main legal questions raised in the present case, and that there is no need to give a separate ruling on the admissibility and merits of the applicants’ remaining complaints (see Centre for Legal Resources on behalf of Valentin Câmpeanu v. Romania [GC], no. 47848/08, § 156, ECHR 2014).
14. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Novaya Gazeta and Others, cited above, § 141), the Court awards the sums indicated in the appended table in respect of non‑pecuniary and pecuniary damages and also costs and expenses.
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 12 June 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 10 of the Convention and other issues
(restrictions on the right to freedom of expression)
No. | Application no. Date of introduction | Applicant’s name Year of birth
| Represented by | Summary of facts | Final decision Date Name of the court | Penalty (award, fine, imprisonment) | Other complaints under well-established case-law | Amount awarded per applicant (in euros)[1] |
50074/18 10/10/2018 | Petr Anatolyevich BOROVINSKIKH 1976
| Ivan Yuryevich ZHDANOV | The applicant was convicted under Article 20.3.3 § 1 of the CAO for publishing social media posts criticising Russian military action in Ukraine, which authorities deemed to "discredit" the Russian Armed Forces. | Chelyabinsk Regional Court, 22/06/2022 | Fine of RUB 45,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure – arrested on 05/05/2018 and brought to a police station without any explanation for the reason for the arrest and why the record could not be drawn up on the spot;
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – both sets of the administrative proceedings;
Art. 10 – Unforeseeable finding that the police order barring the filming at the police station had a legal basis (see Karuyev v. Russia, no. 4161/13, 18 January 2022) - The applicant was convicted for disobeying police orders after attempting to film inside a police station following his apprehension at a manifestation. Final decision: Chelyabinsk Regional Court, 21/06/2018 – fine of RUB 700
| 7,500 | |
40817/20 28/08/2020 | Aleksey Vitalyevich SEMENOV 1967
| Ernest Aleksandrovich MEZAK | On 22/03/2022 and 03/04/2022, the applicant shared two anti-war posts on social media seeking to attract attention to the number of civilian casualties. | Supreme Court of the Republic of Komi, 22/06/2022 | Fine of RUB 30,000
| Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings; | 7,500 | |
59429/21 20/11/2021 | Anatoliy Grigoryevich NOGOVITSYN 1987
| Irina Vladimirovna KHRUNOVA | The applicant was convicted under Article 20.3.3 § 1 of the CAO for reposting media content from Novaya Gazeta and videos showing local residents’ reactions in Berdyansk and Kherson, which authorities deemed to discredit the Russian Armed Forces. | Supreme Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 21/06/2022 | Fine of RUB 30,000 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings; Art. 10 - The applicant, an opposition activist, was convicted under Article 13.15 § 9 of the CAO for reposting information about alleged electoral fraud during the March 2021 municipal elections. Final decision: Yakutsk Town Court of the Sakha Republic, 09/06/2021; Fine of RUB 30,000
| 7,500 | |
28789/22 15/04/2022 | Georgiy Igorevich SEMENOV 2001
| Andrey Vasilyevich SABININ | On 06/03/2022, the applicant was arrested while conducting a vigil with a poster that read "NO TO WAR" in central Simferopol, Crimea. He was released two and a half hours later. | "Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea", 06/04/2022 | Fine of RUB 35,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis,
Art. 6 (1) – Russian courts in Crimea are not "established by law" (Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea) [GC], nos. 20958/14 and 38334/18, § 946, 25 June 2024); prosecuting party was absent in the administrative-offence proceedings | 7,500 | |
32861/22 22/06/2022 | Aleksey Petrovich SAFONOV 1974
| Damir Ravilevich GAYNUTDINOV | The applicant was found guilty under Article 20.1 § 3 of the CAO for an Instagram post containing the phrase “Slava Ukraine!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”) expressing support for the Ukrainian people. | Rostov Regional Court, 11/04/2022 | Fine of RUB 50,000 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 7,500 | |
36835/22 14/07/2022 | Darya Sergeyevna TSYBINA 1999
| Varvara Dmitriyevna MIKHAYLOVA | On 13/03/2022, the applicant and three others (application nos. 36757/22, 36838/22, 36842/22) were arrested in Volgograd for putting stickers with the text "NO TO WAR" on buildings and poles. They were escorted to a police station and asked to submit to toxicology tests which they refused as they had not consumed any substances. All four were convicted of disobeying a lawful order under Article 6.9 of the CAO. | Tsentralnyy District Court of Volgograd, 17/03/2022 | 6 days’ detention | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 7,500 | |
41272/22 17/08/2022 | Vladislav Alekseyevich ARSENYEV 1985
| Stanislav Aleksandrovich SELEZNEV | On 23/02/2022, the applicant placed a sticker reading “#NO TO WAR #PUTIN IS A MURDERER” on his car. | Tver Regional Court, 18/05/2022 | Fine of RUB 40,000 |
| 7,500 | |
41426/22 13/08/2022 | Yelena Aleksandrovna GENERALOVA 1994
| Andrey Vasilyevich SABININ | On 06/03/2022, the applicant and others were arrested in central Krasnodar while holding a banner reading “Silence is a crime, no to war, no to Putin, being afraid is a sin.” | Krasnodar Regional Court, 27/04/2022 | Fine of RUB 30,000 | Art. 11 (1) - various restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly – the applicant was arrested in a course of the manifestation with a number of other participants,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 7,500 | |
41431/22 13/08/2022 | Oleg Vladimirovich KULAGIN 1979
| Andrey Vasilyevich SABININ | On 06/03/2022, the applicant held up a poster that read "NO TO WAR". | Bryansk Regional Court, 30/05/2022 | Fine of RUB 30,000 |
| 7,500 | |
42330/22 12/08/2022 | Vitaliy Aleksandrovich CHIZHKOV 1990
Anton Aleksandrovich NAUMOV 1979
| Natalya Andreyevna BARANOVA | On 06/03/2022, Mr Chizhkov was arrested at an anti-war rally in Tomsk.
On 17/03/2022, Mr Naumov was arrested in Mytishchi for holding a poster that read “Against the special operation”. | Tomsk Regional Court, 15/04/2022
Moscow Regional Court, 19/04/2022 | Chizhkov - Fine of RUB 45,000
Naumov - Fine of RUB 30,000
| Art. 11 (1) - Freedom of peaceful assembly - the first applicant was arrested in a course of the peaceful manifestation with a number of other participants,
Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis – both applicants,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – both applicants
| 7,500 | |
45567/22 07/09/2022 | Viktor Vitalyevich SYSUYEV 1976
| Andrey Vasilyevich SABININ | On 13/03/2022, the applicant shared on social media an appeal to take part in anti-war rallies. | Yaroslavl Regional Court, 20/06/2022 | Fine of RUB 50,000 | Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 7,500 | |
48340/22 17/09/2022 | Vladimir Grachikovich SIREKANYAN 1990
| Aleksey Sergeyevich LAPUZIN | On 06/03/2022, the applicant conducted a vigil in Samara. He wore a sign that read "NO TO WAR" on his jacket and carried posters reading "Fight poverty, not Ukraine" and "War is death and poverty". He was arrested and taken to the police station. | Samara Regional Court, 19/05/2022 | Fine of RUB 40,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings, | 7,500 | |
48649/22 15/09/2022 (5 applicants) | Artem Viktorovich TURKOV 1978
Yana Alekseyevna BEREZINA 1998
Kirill Aleksandrovich CHEVRIN 1991
Andrey Vladimirovich KHANZHIN 1994
Pavel Vladimirovich LAVREKHIN 1996
| Natalya Andreyevna BARANOVA | On 06/03/2022, Mr Tykov held a vigil in Tutayev, displaying a sign that read “No to war”. He was subsequently arrested and taken to the police station.
On 07/04/2022, Ms Berezina was detained while distributing leaflets with images of dogs accompanied by the following texts: “Lost dog. Ran away during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Name – Future. Your children will have no future if you do not stand against the war right now. Thousands of Ukrainian children will never have a Future...” and “Lost dog. Name – Freedom. Citizens peacefully protesting against war are persecuted, arrested, beaten, tortured, threatened with expulsion and dismissal...” She was then taken to the police station.
On 11/03/2022, Mr Chevrin conducted an anti-war vigil in Moscow. He was detained at 4.15 p.m. and held for a period of 3 hours and 45 minutes.
On 06/03/2022, Mr Lavrekhin participated in an anti-war rally in Kaliningrad. He was detained and held for more than four hours.
On 19/04/2022, Mr Khanzhin held a vigil in Alexandrovsky Garden in Moscow, displaying a poster that read: “Hero Cities of 20th century: Kiev, Odessa, Sevastopol, Kerch. Hero Cities 2022: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Kherson, Hostomel, Volnovakha, Bucha, Irpin, Mykolaiv, Akhtyrka. Stop turning cities into ruins!” He was detained, held overnight and subsequently received two separate charges under Articles 20.3.3 and 20.2 § 8 of the CAO. | Yaroslavl Regional Court, 16/05/2022
Volgograd Regional Court, 18/05/2022
Moscow City Court, 17/05/2022
Kaliningrad Regional Court, 17/05/2022
Moscow City Court, 28/04/2022 | Mr Tykov - RUB 30,000
Ms Berezina - RUB 30,000 for each offense (two fines)
Mr Chevrin - RUB 50,000
Mr Lavrekhin - RUB 30,000
Mr Khanzhin - RUB 70,000 and 25 days of administrative arrest | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty, including unrecorded detention and detention without a judicial order and any other legal basis – all applicants,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings – in respect of all applicants,
Art. 11 (1) - various restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly - the applicants were arrested during the peaceful manifestation with a number of other participants | 7,500 | |
48924/22 30/09/2022 | Ivan Ivanovich KORETNIKOV 1939
| Yelena Yuryevna PERSHAKOVA | On 06/03/2022, the applicant was arrested on his way to an anti-war rally while carrying posters that read "How many death notices has Perm received?" and "Russia is spilling Russian blood". He was taken to the police station and released three hours later. | Perm Regional Court, 31/05/2022 | Fine of RUB 30,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings
Art. 11 (1) - various restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly - the applicant was arrested during the manifestation with a number of other participants,
| 7,500 | |
11550/23 28/02/2023 | Yekaterina Olegovna MOROZOVA
| Polina Artemovna PETROVA | On 08/04/2022, the applicant was arrested during a vigil in front of the Ministry of Defence. She wore make-up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, smeared red lipstick and wrote "No to war" on her face, carried flowers tied with yellow and blue ribbons, and held a poster reading "Right now the Russian military are raping and killing Ukrainian women. Stop this war!". She was taken to a police station and released three hours later. | Moscow City Court, 02/09/2022 (Representative granted access to casefile on 31/10/2022) | Fine of RUB 40,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 7,500 | |
11851/23 28/02/2023 | Dmitriy Yevgenyevich KOVAL 1985
| Natalya Andreyevna BARANOVA | On 09/05/2022 and 05/07/2022, the applicant held up posters in central Moscow reading "WAR IS NOT PEACE, FREEDOM IS NOT SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS NOT STRENGTH" and "WHAT IS HIDDEN BEHIND THE SPECIAL MEASURES IN THE ECONOMY?". Each time he was arrested and brought to a police station for drawing up a record of an administrative offence. | Moscow City Court, 28/10/2022 | Fine of RUB 50,000 for each offence | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
11855/23 28/02/2023 | Aleksandr Khadzhimuratovich SALAMOV 1981
| Natalya Andreyevna BARANOVA | On 09/05/2022, the applicant held up a Ukrainian flag with the text "NO TO WAR" in central Moscow. He was arrested and taken to a police station. | Moscow City Court, 28/10/2022 | Fine of RUB 50,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
16866/23 30/03/2023 | Nikolay Nikolayevich LYKOV 1989
|
| On 08/04/2022, the applicant held up a poster reading "PEACE TO THE WORLD, PILLS FOR GRANDAD [implying that President Putin needed medication], NO TO WAR" in central Novosibirsk. He was arrested and taken to a police station. | Novosibirsk Regional Court, 30/11/2022 | Fine of RUB 35,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
36491/23 17/09/2023 | Nadezhda Aleksandrovna BYKOVA 1997
|
| On 03/04/2022, the applicant daubed "NO TO WAR" on a fence in central Moscow. She was arrested and brought to a police station where she was held for 13 hours. | Moscow City Court, 17/05/2023 | Fine of RUB 50,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
37067/23 25/09/2023 | Zhanna Fedorovna DENISOVA 1954
|
| On 12/03/2022, the applicant shared another user’s anti-war post on Facebook. On 04/04/2022, she was arrested and taken to a police station. | Moscow City Court, 25/05/2023 | Fine of RUB 40,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
37843/23 25/09/2023 | Yekaterina Anatolyevna VOROBYEVA 1974
| Konstantin Aleksandrovich MARKIN | On 22/05/2022, the applicant was arrested in central Moscow for holding a poster with the texts "Do not get used to war" and "Not War" featuring images of a crossed-out tank in a circle and a dove. She was taken to a police station and released three hours later. | Moscow City Court, 30/05/2023 | Fine of RUB 30,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
37958/23 29/09/2023 | Danzan Khongorovich BRUGIDIKOV 2000
| Vladimir Sergeyevich NEMANOV | On 28/02/2022, the applicant shared a post on Instagram which read: "Ukrainians are fighting on their own land - this is a great goal of defending the homeland, Russian occupiers have no unity, morale or spirit because they were deceived". He was found guilty of the offence of incitement of hate against a social group of "members of Russian military" under Article 20.3.1 of the CAO. | Moscow City Court, 13/06/2023 | Fine of RUB 20,000 |
| 7,500 | |
39058/23 16/10/2023 | Altan Sankhimovich OCHIROV 1981
| Irina Vladimirovna KHRUNOVA | Between 22/03/2022 and 05/04/2022, the applicant published posts in the "Free Ulus" Telegram channel concerning the military operation in Ukraine. The posts covered topics including Russian military vehicles firing on a civilian car carrying an elderly couple; comparisons between Russian forces and Nazi Germany’s 133rd Infantry Division; the destruction of Russian naval vessels "Orsk" and "Saratov"; civilian casualties; destruction of residential buildings in Rubezhne; disputing official figures of Russian military casualties; and criticism of Russian leadership. The applicant was convicted under Article 207.3 § 2(b) and (e) of the Criminal Code for spreading "fake news" about Russian casualties in Ukraine. | Fourth Court of Cassation, 10/08/2023 | 5 years’ imprisonment |
| 10,000 | |
1186/24 17/12/2023 | Polina Sergeyevna BARINOVA 1993
| Valentina Andreyevna CHEKHOVA | On 03/09/2022, the applicant was arrested for wearing a badge with the text "NO TO WAR" on her backpack. She was brought to the police station and released three hours later. | Moscow City Court, 17/08/2023 | Fine of RUB 40,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
34181/24 27/08/2022 | Dmitriy Avelyevich GAVRILOV 1973
| Stanislav Aleksandrovich SELEZNEV | On 13/03/2022, the applicant was arrested for holding up a sign that read "NO TO WAR" in central Cheboksary. | Supreme Court of the Republic of Chuvashia, 28/04/2022 | Fine of RUB 35,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure | 7,500 | |
34184/24 23/08/2022 | Mikhail Sergeyevich SERGEYEV 1979
| Aleksey Alekseyevich DUBROVIN | On 06/03/2022, the applicant was arrested in central Anapa where he was silently holding sheets of paper with the text "I am against the war", "No to war", "We are for peace", "Stop the war". | Krasnodar Regional Court, 27/04/2022 | Fine of RUB 40,000 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful deprivation of liberty on account of abusive resorting to escort procedure,
Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 7,500 |
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.