KOZLOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA

 
 
 
 
THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 23686/13
Sergey Valeriyevich KOZLOV against Russia
and 10 other applications
(see appended table)
 
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 19 March 2019 as a Committee composed of:
Alena Poláčková, President,
Dmitry Dedov,
Jolien Schukking, judges,
and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
1.  The applicants are Russian nationals, except for Mr Shirinov who is a national of Tajikistan, living in various regions of the Russian Federation. Their personal details appear in the appended table.
2.  The Russian Government ("the Government") were represented initially by Mr G. Matyushkin, the Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Court of Human Rights, and then by his successor in that office, Mr M. Galperin.
3.  The facts of the cases, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
4.  On various dates between 2012 and 2014 the applicants were criminally prosecuted and convicted of various offences.
5.  The applicants’ convictions were based among other evidence on the statements of one or more witnesses for prosecution, which were made during pre-trial stages of the proceedings and read out in open court while those witnesses were absent.
6.  Allowing the witnesses’ pre-trial statements as evidence the trial courts in their judgments relied on the impossibility to locate them and/or their refusal to appear at court, and/or remoteness of their place of residence as well as engagements existing at the material time and/or their poor state of health that made impossible for them to appear before the court.
7.  The convictions were based on a multiplicity of evidence, including statements by the applicants made at the pre-trial stage and at trial in the presence of their lawyers, trial statements by the police officers, other witnesses for prosecution, material and documentary evidence. The domestic courts analysed the witnesses’ pre-trial statements and established their coherence and consistency with other evidence.
8.  The judgments of the trial courts were upheld on appeal.
COMPLAINTS
9.  The applicants complained under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention that the domestic courts had not provided good reasons for reading-out of the pre-trial statements of the witnesses for prosecution and thus the applicants had been unable to have those witnesses examined at the trial.
10.  The applicants, except for Mr Kozlov, Ms Shlyapkina, Mr Kufayev, Mr Chesnokov, Mr Dubinin and Mr Shcherbatykh (applications nos. 23686/13, 52635/13, 15803/14, 32501/14, 45811/14 and 56742/14 respectively), also complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the outcome of the proceedings and assessment of evidence.
11.  Ms Shlyapkina (application no. 52635/13) complained in addition under Articles 7 and 13 of the Convention.
12.  Mr Gorbatyuk and Mr Vinogradov (applications nos. 65765/13 and 77434/13 respectively) further complained under Article 3 of the Convention.
13.  Mr Dubinin (application no. 45811/14) complained also under Article 6 § 2 of the Convention.
14.  Mr Gostev (application no. 60644/14) complained under Article 7 § 2 of the Convention.
THE LAW
15.  The Court first considers that in accordance with Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications listed in the appended table should be joined, given their common legal background.
16.  The respondent Government in their observations argued that the applicants had had a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. They argued that the applicants’ convictions were based on other abundant evidence. Referring to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, as well as the relevant interpretative guidelines and practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Government contended that the Russian legal system had afforded the applicants sufficient procedural safeguards aimed at securing their right to examine witnesses testifying against them and guarantees of a fair trial.
17.  Certain applicants disagreed, while the others did not provide specific arguments.
18.  The Court has carefully examined the applications listed in the appended table and concluded that, in the light of the Court’s primary concern under Article 6 § 1 to evaluate the overall fairness of the criminal proceedings (see Al-Khawaja and Tahery v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 26766/05 and 22228/06, § 118, ECHR 2011, and Schatschaschwili v. Germany [GC], no. 9154/10, § 101, ECHR 2015), the presumption that in principle the Russian legal system offers robust procedural guarantees securing the right of an accused to examine witnesses testifying against him, ensuring that the reading out of absent witnesses’ testimony is possible only as an exception (see Zadumov v. Russia, no. 2257/12, § 63, 12 December 2017, recently reiterated in Kiba and Others (dec.), nos. 38047/08 and 2 others, § 16, 17 April 2018), the material in its possession, and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, the applications are manifestly ill-founded as well as the accessory complaints of all the applicants except for Mr Kozlov, Ms Shlyapkina, Mr Kufayev, Mr Chesnokov, Mr Dubinin and Mr Shcherbatykh (applications nos. 23686/13, 52635/13, 15803/14, 32501/14, 45811/14 and 56742/14 respectively) under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, complaints of Ms Shlyapkina (application no. 52635/13) under Articles 7 and 13 of the Convention, complaints of Mr Gorbatyuk and Mr Vinogradov (applications nos. 65765/13 and 77434/13 respectively) under Article 3 of the Convention, complaint of  Mr Dubinin (application no. 45811/14) under Article 6 § 2 of the Convention and that of Mr Gostev (application no. 60644/14) under Article 7 § 2 of the Convention, which were not communicated to the Government, and thus must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 11 April 2019.
Fatoş AracıAlena Poláčková
Deputy RegistrarPresident


Appendix
No.
Application
no.
Date of introduction
Applicant name
Date of birth
Place of residence
Represented by
Date of the trial and appeal/cassation courts’ judgments
Witness absent from trial   
23686/13
12/02/2013
Sergey Valeriyevich
KOZLOV
 
Potma, Republic of Mordovia
19/06/1980
 
Aleksandr Mikhaylovich
Plodukhin
Presnenskiy District Court of Moscow
18/06/2012
 
Moscow City Court
31/10/2012
 
Convicted of murder
Mr P.,
Ms P.,
Mr S.,
Ms Yu.,
Ms Z.,
Mr R.   
24356/13
07/03/2013
 
 
Nasimzhon Nodirovich
SHIRINOV
 
31/07/1975
Startsevo, Krasnoyarsk Region
 
Svetlana Nikolayevna
Rzhepko
Leninskiy District Court of Krasnoyarsk
03/09/2012
 
Krasnoyarsk Regional Court
13/12/2012
 
Convicted of attempted drug dealing on large scale, attempted drug dealing, attempted drug dealing on especially large scale
Mr “Prokhorov”,
Mr B.   
52635/13
01/08/2013
Marina Anatolyevna
SHLYAPKINA
 
23/10/1986
Ulyanovsk
 
Yekaterina Alekseyevna
Fetisova
 
Leninskiy District Court of Ulyanovsk, Ulyanovsk Region
29/11/2012
 
Ulyanovsk Regional Court
06/02/2013
 
Ulyanovsk Regional Court
14/02/2014
 
Convicted of swindling through an official position on a large scale
Mr S.   
65765/13
26/09/2013
Aleksandr Fedorovich
GORBATYUK
 
14/02/1978
Mikhaylovka, Primorskiy Region
 
Aleksey Sergeyevich Arkhipov
 
 
Mikhaylovka District Court of the Primorskiy Region
05/07/2012
 
Primorskiy Regional Court
27/03/2013
 
Convicted of extortion by a group of persons in preliminary collusion (3 episodes) and of preparation for extortion by a group of persons in preliminary collusion
Mr D.,
Mr S.   
77434/13
14/11/2013
Konstantin Konstantinovich
VINOGRADOV
 
12/05/1982
Armarvir, Krasnodar Region
 
Irina Vladimirovna
Khrunova
 
Tsentralniy District Court of Sochi, Krasnodar Region
18/03/2013
 
Krasnodar Regional Court
15/05/2013
 
Convicted for attempted drug trafficking on especially large scale
Mrs Z.   
15803/14
12/02/2014
 
Igor Aleksandrovich
KUFAYEV
 
03/07/1969
Barnaul
 
Grigoriy Gennadyevich Akimov
 
Tsentralniy District Court of Barnaul, Altay Region
23/05/2013
 
Altay Regional Court
20/09/2013
 
Convicted of swindling (2 episodes) by a group of persons on preliminary collusion on especially large scale through official position, money laundering (2 episodes) on a large scale through an official position where one of the episodes was committed by a group of persons on preliminary collusion
Mr Ch.   
32501/14
07/12/2014
Yanis Aleksandrovich
CHESNOKOV
 
22/06/1985
Karymskoye, Zabaykalskiy Region
 
Mikhaylovskiy District Court of the Amur Region
14/08/2013
 
Amursk Regional Court
24/09/2014
 
Convicted of attempted dealing
of psychotropic substances by an organized group in large quantities
(3 episodes), attempted drug dealing
by an organized group in large quantities
(2 episodes), drug dealing in especially large quantities (2 episodes), unlawful storage of drugs without the purpose of trafficking in especially large quantities
Mr P.   
33551/14
07/04/2014
Yuriy Sergeyevich GUROV
 
Moscow
02/05/1976
 
Aleksandr Stepanovich
Bukharets
Izmailovskiy District Court of Moscow
16/07/2013
 
Moscow City Court 07/10/2013
 
Convicted of attempted drug dealing by a group of persons on preliminary collusion
 
Ms K.   
45811/14
16/06/2014
Maksim Andreyevich
DUBININ
 
17/04/1973
Ryazan
 
Erika Nikolayevna
Barsukova
Golovinskiy District Court of Moscow
17/09/2013
 
Moscow City Court 22/04/2014
 
Convicted of attempted drug dealing
Mr K. 
56742/14
24/09/2014
Viktor Vasilyevich
SHCHERBATYKH
 
03/12/1978
Sorda, Kirov Region
 
 
Vyazniki Town Court of the Vladimir Region
21/10/2013
 
Vladimir Regional Court
27/03/2014
 
Convicted of murder
Mr K. 
60644/14
28/07/2014
Anatoliy Vasilyevich GOSTEV
 
28/03/1985
Novocherkassk
 
 
 
Leninskiy District Court of Rostov-on-Don
27/11/2013
 
Rostov Regional Court
05/02/2014
 
Convicted of burglary with unlawful entry to premises and of burglary with unlawful entry to premises on a large scale
Mr E.
 
 

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