Week-ending 23 July 2021
This week there were two judgments by the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Russia, finding violations of Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 2 of Protocol No.7 (right of appeal in criminal matters). In addition, the Court ruled that Aleksei Kudin should not be extradited from Russia to Belarus, where he is at risk of torture. The Russian authorities proceeded to deport Kudin to Belarus.
In other news, on 21 July 2021 a Russian appeal court ruled world champion kickboxer Aleksei Kudin (also: Alyaksey Kudzin) could be extradited to his homeland, Belarus, despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Kudzin would be at risk of torture if he returned to that country.
Sources:
RFE/RL, 22 July 2021: A Russian court has ruled world champion kickboxer Alyaksey Kudzin can be extradited to his homeland, Belarus, despite concerns the athlete may be politically persecuted and tortured. The decision by a Moscow appeals court on July 21 came despite an earlier European Court of Human Rights opinion that banned his extradition.
Memorial Human Rights Centre: Memorial Human Rights Centre categorically condemns the actions of the Russian authorities in extraditing Belarusian citizen Aleksei Kudin to Belarus on 21 July 2021 in violation of Russia’s international obligations under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The European Court of Human Rights banned Russia from extraditing Kudin to Belarus because he is at risk of torture in his homeland.
20 July 2021
Art 10 • Freedom of expression • No legal basis for applicant’s conviction for shouting slogans not corresponding to the declared aims of a lawful public event
A violation of Article 10 of the Convention; 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, EUR 7,500 (seven thousand five hundred euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of non-pecuniary damage, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement.
Art 2 P7 ● Review of conviction ● Applicant deprived of possibility to have a hearing, even in his absence, on a request for reinstating the time-limit for appeal against his in absentia conviction, as provided by domestic law
Art 35 § 1 ● Exhaustion of domestic remedies ● Applicant not required to appeal against non-procedural letter from domestic court president devoid of the applicable procedure for challenging it
A violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 7 to the Convention; 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, EUR 2,000 (two thousand euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant, in respect of costs and expenses.
