MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-34

2 December 2021

1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)

 

H46-34 Navalnyy and Ofitserov (Application No. 46632/13) Navalnyye (Application No. 101/15) v. Russian Federation

Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments

 

Reference document

CM/Notes/1419/H46-34

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         recalled that in these two cases the European Court held that the applicants were convicted of acts indistinguishable from regular commercial activities by judicial decisions that were arbitrary, unforeseeable and manifestly unreasonable, in violation of the right to a fair trial (violation of Article 6 of the Convention) and, in the Navalnyye case, of the principle of nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege (no crime or punishment without law) (violation of Article 7 of the Convention);

As regards individual measures

2.         as regards Navalnyy and Ofitserov, noted the new application pending before the Court concerning the fresh criminal proceedings which took place after the case had been reopened in response to the Court’s judgment and affirmed their competence under Article 46 of the Convention to examine whether the violations established by the Court have been redressed in those fresh criminal proceedings;

3.         as regards Navalnyye, reiterated that the nature of the violations established calls into question the very basis of the applicants’ criminal conviction and prosecution and thus eliminating the conviction and its legal consequences is required to put the applicants in the position in which they would have been had the requirements of the Convention not been disregarded, in accordance with the Court’s settled case-law and the Committee’s well-established practice;

4.         exhorted the authorities to release immediately Mr Aleksey Navalnyy, to quash the convictions impugned in both cases, and to reimburse the applicants in the amount of the fine and the civil damages they have paid;

5.         as regards Navalnyy and Ofitserov, reiterated once again their invitation to the authorities to provide their comments concerning the measures of redress still available in the case of late Mr Ofitserov; 

6.         further reiterated their invitation to the authorities to enter into a constructive dialogue with the Committee and the Secretariat to achieve a full execution of these cases, and renewed their call for the authorities to engage without further delay in consultations with the Secretariat concerning the ways to move forward;

As regards general measures

7.         noted the information provided and invited the authorities to submit information on all the outstanding issues in the Navalnyy and Ofitserov case as well as information on the measures taken or planned to address the violations established in the Navalnyye case;

8          decided to resume the consideration of individual and general measures in both of these cases at their 1428th meeting (March 2022) (DH) at the latest and instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft interim resolution for consideration at their next examination in the event that no tangible progress has been achieved in the execution of the present cases by then.