MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2024)1501/H46-29

13 June 2024

1501st meeting, 11-13 June 2024 (DH)   H46-29 Boris Popov (Application No. 23284/04), Boyko (Application No. 42259/07), Gorlov and Others group (Application No. 27057/06), Igranov and Others group (Application No. 42399/13), N.T. group (Application No. 14727/11), Khoroshenko group (Application No. 41418/04), Resin (Application No. 9798/12) and Vlasov group (Application No. 78146/01) v. Russian Federation Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments   Reference document CM/Notes/1501/H46-29

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         recalling that although the Russian Federation ceased to be a High Contracting Party to the Convention on 16 September 2022, it remains bound by obligations under the Convention, including to implement judgments of the Court, in accordance with Article 58 of the Convention, recalling further that the Committee of Ministers continues to supervise the execution of the judgments and friendly settlements concerned (Resolution of 22 March 2022 of the Court and Resolution CM/Res(2022)3), deeply deplored that the Russian authorities have ceased all communication with the Department for the Execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and welcomed a Rule 9 submission of an NGO, which is a vital source of information in the absence of communication from the authorities;

2.         noted that these cases concern violations of prisoners' rights caused by laws found to be deficient in the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, resulting in

•           the prison authorities' failure to carry out an individual assessment and to justify the censorship of non-privileged correspondence and telephone calls, and

•           for the use of CCTV to monitor constantly prisoners in their cells,

•           for detaining prisoners in remote colonies,

•           for the application of the excessively harsh prison regime to all life prisoners,

•           for the denial of family and pastoral visits and visits to dying relatives,

resulting also in

•           the absence of a legal right for prisoners to participate in civil cases,

•           the glass partitions and presence of officers during family visits as a rule,

•           the absence of any possibility of family visits for prisoners detained under the minor offences administrative procedure,

•           the discrimination between remand prisoners and convicted prisoners as regards the length and frequency of family visits, and

•           the absence of an effective remedy for these issues;

3.         decided to consider in the future all cases concerning strict prison regime in the N.T. group of cases, and all cases concerning prisoners’ participation in civil cases – in the Igranov and Others group of cases;

As regards individual measures

4.         emphasised the obligation of the authorities to ensure payment of just satisfaction in all cases, bearing in mind the unconditional nature of this obligation;

5.         deeply regretted the refusal of the authorities to execute one of the judgments on the grounds that it “contradicts the basis of the constitutional order in the Russian Federation” and reiterated in this regard that the Russian Federation remains under an obligation to fully implement all final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights to which it is a party and that such a refusal is a manifest infringement of international law;

As regards general measures

6.         underlined that, in addition to the Committee's previous findings in its decisions in the case of Buntov and in the Kalashnikov and Tomov and Others groups cases concerning torture of prisoners, their conditions of detention in general, medical care and transportation, there is a need to adopt a number of legislative reforms to safeguard other prisoners’ rights, in particular to ensure that:

•           prisoners are detained in the colonies close to their home region,

•           the prison authorities take individualised and well-founded decisions, limited in time and subject to independent review,

•           measures be taken with regard to the censorship of non-privileged correspondence and telephone calls,

•           video surveillance in cells is individualised, reasoned, limited in time, gender sensitive and subject to independent review,

•           the application of the strict prison regime to life prisoners be further mitigated,

•           the system of permission for family leave and pastoral visits as well as regards the leave to visit a dying relative be reviewed, and

•           measures be taken with regard to glass partitions and the presence of officers during family visits;

7.         further underlined that the authorities should introduce a legal provision providing for the participation of prisoners in civil cases to which they are parties, as well as regulate family visits for prisoners detained under the minor offences’ administrative procedure; address the discrimination between remand prisoners and convicted prisoners as regards the length and frequency of family visits; and ensure the existence of an effective remedy on these issues;

8.         highlighted the necessity of professional training and awareness-raising and other measures to ensure Convention-compliant application of the laws.