This week there were two judgments of the European Court of Human Rights concerning Russia, finding violations of Articles 2 (right to life) and 8 (respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
PLOKHOVY v. RUSSIA, 22 December 2020
Art 2 • Positive obligations • Effective investigation • Death of applicant’s son by disease during compulsory military service after delayed access to adequate medical treatment, in breach of the duty to safeguard his life (substantive) • Absence of criminal investigation or other remedies capable of comprehensively establishing the circumstances of the death (procedural)
A violation of the substantive limb of Article 2 of the Convention; a violation of the procedural limb of Article 2 of the Convention; the respondent State is to pay the applicants jointly, within three months from the date on which the judgment becomes final in accordance with Article 44 § 2 of the Convention, the following amounts: EUR 295, plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of pecuniary damage; EUR 33,800, plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of non-pecuniary damage; EUR 2,489, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants, in respect of costs and expenses.
USMANOV v. RUSSIA, 22 December 2020
Art 8 • Expulsion • Respect for family life • Disproportionate and arbitrary annulment of applicant’s citizenship for omission of information about siblings, when applying ten years earlier • Two-pronged approach for examining deprivation of citizenship • 1. Measure constituting an interference with Art 8, in light of consequences of the annulment for the applicant • 2. Measure arbitrary, given lack of clarity of domestic law, its excessively formalistic approach, and inadequate procedural safeguards • Absence of a balancing exercise carried out by authorities
Art 8 • Respect for private life • Unjustified expulsion of applicant from Russian territory • No explanation for why the applicant was considered a national security threat • Failure in domestic proceedings to balance the interests at stake, taking into account Court general principles
A violation of Article 8 of the Convention on account of the annulment of the applicant’s Russian citizenship; a violation of Article 8 of the Convention on account of the decision to expel the applicant from Russian territory; the Court will continue to indicate to the Government under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court that it is desirable in the interests of the proper conduct of the proceedings not to expel the applicant until such time as the present judgment becomes final or until further notice; the respondent State is to pay the applicant, within three months from the date on which the judgment becomes final in accordance with Article 44 § 2 of the Convention, the following amounts: EUR 162, plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of pecuniary damage; EUR 10,000, plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of non-pecuniary damage; EUR 850, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant, in respect of costs and expenses.