CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 12 février 2009

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margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s82D7B801 { width:22.93pt; display:inline-block } .sF9287AF { width:174.97pt; display:inline-block } .sF2E32F9B { width:36.61pt; display:inline-block } .s5F32E900 { width:208.31pt; display:inline-block } .s379BC09C { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s5E1364CA { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt }       FIRST SECTION           CASE OF NOLAN AND K. v. RUSSIA   (Application no. 2512/04)                   JUDGMENT       STRASBOURG   12 February 2009     FINAL   06/07/2009     This judgment may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Nolan and K. v. Russia , The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:   Christos Rozakis, President,   Nina Vajić,   Anatoly Kovler,   Elisabeth Steiner,   Khanlar Hajiyev,   Dean Spielmann,   Sverre Erik Jebens, judges, and Søren Nielsen, Section Registrar , Having deliberated in private on 22 January 2009, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1.     The case originated in an application (no. 2512/04) against the Russian Federation lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two citizens of the United States of America, Mr   Patrick Francis Nolan (“the applicant”) and K. (“the applicant’s son”), on 18 December 2003. 2.     The applicant was represented by Mrs G. Krylova and Mr   D.   Holiner, lawyers practising in Moscow and London respectively. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr   P. Laptev, former Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights. 3.     By a decision of 30 November 2006 the Court declared the application partly admissible. 4.     The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1). THE FACTS I.     THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 5.     Mr Nolan and K. were born in 1967 and 2001 respectively and live in Tbilisi, Georgia. Mr Nolan is the father and sole custodial parent of K. 6.     Since 1988 the applicant has been a member of the Unification Church (“the Church”), a spiritual movement founded by Mr Sun Myung Moon in 1954. A.     Legal status of the Unification Church in Russia 7.     On 21 May 1991 the Unification Church was officially registered as a religious association in the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. 8 .     On 29 December 2000 the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation granted State re-registration to the Unification Church at federal level as a centralised religious organisation. It did so on the basis of an expert opinion from the Expert Council for Conducting State Expert Examinations in Religious Studies, which stated, inter alia , the following: “In the Russian Federation neither the Unification Church nor its leaders have ever been held criminally liable. No violations of the federal law on freedom of conscience and religious associations on the part of the Unification Church or its various representatives have been established. Thus, (1) the Unification Church is a religious, non-commercial organisation and, accordingly, has the characteristics of a religious association within the meaning of section 6 § 1 of the federal law on freedom of conscience and religious associations; and (2) no indication of unlawful activities has been uncovered in its religious teachings and corresponding practice.” B.     The applicant’s residence in Russia 9.     In 1994 the Church invited the applicant to assist its activities in Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation granted the applicant leave to stay in Russia. His leave to stay was subsequently renewed by the Ministry on a yearly basis through invitations issued by the registered religious organisation of the Unification Church in Moscow and an associated social organisation in St Petersburg, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU). 10.     The applicant lived primarily in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, where he worked with local branches of the FFWPU and the Youth Federation for World Peace (YFWP). He explains that, while the Unification Church, the FFWPU and the YFWP and other associations operating in Russia maintain legal independence from one another, they cooperate with one another in pursuit of similar goals. According to the applicant, these organisations acknowledge their origin in the Unification Movement founded by Rev. Moon; their different titles and legal forms reflect the specific focus of their activities and the fact that the social organisations are open to members of other faiths. 11.     On 21 May 1999 the FFWPU established a local organisation in Rostov. Since the applicant’s host organisation in Russia was responsible for processing his residence registration with the police during the term of his stay, this was subsequently arranged through the Rostov FFWPU. 12 .     On 10 January 2000 the acting President of the Russian Federation amended, by Decree no. 24, the Concept of National Security of the Russian Federation, adopted in 1997. The relevant paragraph of Chapter IV, “Ensuring the National Security of the Russian Federation”, was amended to read: “Ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation also includes the protection of its ... spiritual and moral heritage ... the forming of a State policy in the field of spiritual and moral education of the population ... and also includes opposing the negative influence of foreign religious organisations and missionaries ...” 13 .     On 25 July 2000 the Promyshlenniy District Court of Stavropol, on an application by the acting Stavropol regional prosecutor, decided to dissolve the Stavropol regional branch of the FFWPU and ban its activities “irrespective of State registration” on the ground that it was “engaged in religious activities under the guise of a registered social organisation”. On 25 October 2000 the Stavropol Regional Court upheld the judgment of 25   July 2000. 14.     On 3 August 2000 the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper ran an article on the Unification Church’s activities in southern Russia which – according to the applicant – described in general terms the grounds subsequently endorsed by the Federal Security Service in favour of his expulsion. It was entitled “Caramels from Moon will drive to debility” ( «‘Гуцулочки’ от Муна до маразма доведут» ): “ The prosecutor’s office of the Stavropol Region has banned the activity of social organisations under the protection of which the Korean Moon ... was buying souls for $500 a piece. Once there were two public organisations registered by the Stavropol Department of Justice: the Youth Federation for World Peace (YFWP) and the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU). As it turned out, these so-called public movements preach one of the most dangerous religions of the past century... Outwardly inoffensive ‘pedlars’ who sell or give away the ‘New Families’ newspaper and cheap caramels lure young men and women into Moon’s family ... Young missionaries who were freely permitted to lecture to senior students at Stavropol schools introduced themselves as volunteers from the International Education Fund (IEF), [which is] one of Moon’s many ‘parishes’ ... The self-proclaimed lecturers had no documents authorising them to talk to students. To ‘sweeten’ the lectures, they distributed caramels. Later, a panel of experts from the Stavropol clinic for borderline states gave a negative appraisal of Gutsulka caramels that Moonies distributed to children and adults alike. As it turned out, an outwardly inoffensive caramel destroys the human being’s energy-information profile. Simply speaking, such caramels with little-known inclusions – in some of them small holes are visible – facilitate the conversion of neophytes into zombies. The contents of Moonies’ lectures leave a strong aftertaste of debility. It is sufficient to read the briefing materials [prepared by] the IEF – an outline of the lecture on ‘Preparation of a Secure Marriage’. Citation: ‘The genitals belong to a spouse and they only serve their purpose in a marital relationship ... Until the marriage you are the guardian of your genitals for your future spouse ...’ After some time ... [a certain young man] was introduced to the head Moonie in the Northern Caucasus, Patrick Nolan. To the newcomers he was presented as an American professor who periodically came to them from Rostov-on-Don ... In Russia, a mass of associations belong to the Moonie movement – professors, women and even mass-media employees, including cultural foundations and the aforementioned YFWP and FFWPU. All these socialites are preachers of the Unification Church. Meanwhile, as early as three years ago the [upper chamber of the Russian Parliament] declared the Unification Church a totalitarian sect and a destructive cult ... At long last the prosecutor’s office and the Federal Security Service of the Stavropol Region have started working on the Moonies. The regional prosecutor has filed an application ... for dissolution of the YFWP and banning of its activities. The same goes for the FFWPU ... One question is still open: why does such a tenacious businessman as Rev. Moon spend [resources] on Russians? There are several theories. Not long ago... addresses were confiscated from one Moonie ... Among them – the address of an American, Patrick Nolan, who passes his time in Rostov, and two e-mail addresses of the CIA. Why shouldn’t we imagine that Moon’s aim ... is to catch our homeland in a spy net consisting of millions of agents – teachers, scholars, engineers, students and servicemen ...?” [italics as in the original] 15.     On 26 June 2001 the applicant’s leave to stay in Russia was renewed for another year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the basis of an invitation from the FFWPU. As before, the applicant registered his residence with the police upon arrival in Rostov, through the Rostov branch of the FFWPU. 16.     On 12 July 2001 the applicant’s son, K., was born. On 2 October 2001 the applicant and his wife separated; the applicant’s wife returned to the United States and the applicant retained sole custody of the child. 17.     On 31 August 2001 the Kirovskiy District Court of Rostov-on-Don, on an application by the Rostov Department of Justice, decided to dissolve the Rostov FFWPU on the ground that it had failed to notify the registration authorities of the continuation of its activities for more than three consecutive years. According to the applicant, by that time the Rostov FFWPU had been incorporated for only two years and three months and had been issued with a new registration certificate by the Rostov Department of Justice just eight months previously, after undergoing re-registration. According to the judgment, the Rostov FFWPU was incorporated on 21   May 1998 or 21   May 1999, both dates being mentioned as the incorporation date. The hearing was held in the absence of both parties and the FFPWU learned of the decision after it had come into force on 17   September 2001, with no further right of appeal. 18.     On 10 October 2001 the Rostov police summoned the applicant and demanded his passport. They added a stamp to the effect that his registration was “terminated”, orally notifying him that the Rostov FFWPU had been dissolved by a court order. 19 .     Thereafter the applicant obtained registration with the police through other FFWPU branches, first in Novorossiysk and then in Krasnodar. His residence registration in Krasnodar was valid for the entire term of his leave to stay under his current visa, that is, until 19 June 2002. C.     The applicant’s exclusion from Russia 1.     Refusal of re-entry to Russia 20.     On 19 May 2002 the applicant travelled to Cyprus. His son stayed in Russia with his nanny. 21.     At 11 p.m. on 2 June 2002 the applicant arrived at Sheremetyevo-1 Airport in Moscow on a flight from Cyprus. When he reached the passport control booth, two officers – one male and the other female – examined his passport and visa insert. The male officer left with his documents, while the other told him to wait. 22.     At about 0.30 a.m. on 3 June 2002 the applicant was allowed to cross the border to collect his baggage. Border officials conducted an extensive search of his belongings. Then he was directed back through passport control and out through the passenger entry doors from the tarmac to a flight transfer bus, which took him to the airport transit hall. 23 .     Upon his arrival at the transit hall, officials directed the applicant to wait in a small room adjacent to their office with a desk and a sofa, but no phone, ventilation or windows. Once he entered the room, the officials locked him in from outside. Initially the applicant thought that this would be just for a few minutes, but after half an hour he realised that he was being held in an improvised detention cell. He began knocking on the door, asking to be let out. The female officer responded through the door that he would not be let out until the morning, and told him to lie down and sleep. Ten minutes after that a male officer came with the applicant’s visa stapled to a one-page document. He told the applicant that his visa had been cancelled and asked him to sign the document. The applicant did as he was requested, although he could not read the document, which was handwritten in Russian. 24.     At 8.30 a.m., after knocking and shouting for twenty minutes, the applicant was allowed to leave under guard and use the toilet. 25.     At 10 a.m. a man in civilian clothing came to the room and introduced himself as the official in charge of passport control officers. The applicant was told that he would not be allowed to cross the Russian border and that border officials were only following orders and were not responsible for the decision. The man said that he did not know the reason for the decision and could not disclose where the order had come from. The man apologised that the applicant had been held overnight in the room, stating that “the night crew is not too bright”. 26.     The applicant bought a ticket to Tallinn, Estonia. A border guard continued to accompany the applicant until he boarded his flight at 11.30   a.m., returning his passport, but not his visa, only before he entered the aeroplane. 27.     On 26 June 2002 the applicant sent letters, through his legal representatives in Russia, by registered mail to: -     the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; -     the Federal Security Service (FSB) and its department in the Krasnodar Region; -     the Federal Border Service, the military prosecutor’s office of that service and the Moscow Border Control; -     the Ministry of the Interior and its Krasnodar department of passports and visas; and -     the Ombudsman and Presidential Envoy for the Central Circuit. 28.     In these letters the applicant asked why he had been denied entry and detained even though he had committed no violation and why no procedural documents had been compiled or given to him. He also complained that he had been detained for over nine hours, and that as a result of the exclusion his eleven-month-old son had been left behind in Russia without either of his parents. The applicant also requested assistance to be reunited with his son. 2.     Attempted return to Russia on a new visa 29.     On 4 July 2002 the applicant received a new invitation issued through the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 5 July 2002 he applied for a visa to enter Russia at the Russian consulate in Tallinn and on the same day he was issued a multiple-entry visa valid until 3 July 2003. 30.     On 7 July 2002, while he was crossing the border from Finland to Russia, Russian border guards at passport control twice stamped the applicant’s visa “annulled” and denied him entry into Russia. No explanation was given. The consulate in Tallinn referred him to the Ministry’s office in Moscow. 31.     On 12 April 2003 the applicant was reunited with his son whom his nanny, a Ukrainian national, had brought to Ukraine. D.     Proceedings concerning the applicant’s complaints 32.     Many of the applicant’s complaints sent on 26 June 2002 did not receive a response. Of those that did, none addressed the substance of his complaints. Responses from the Moscow Border Control of the Federal Border Service of 9 July and 22 August 2002 indicated that he had been denied entry into Russia on the basis of section 27 § 1 of the Entry Procedure Act, in implementation of an order given by another (unnamed) State body. The military prosecutor’s office responded that the applicant “had not been placed in administrative detention and therefore no detention record had been drawn up”. 33.     On 8 August 2002 the applicant, through his legal representative in Moscow, challenged the decision refusing his return to Russia before the Khimki Town Court of the Moscow Region. He filed the challenge on behalf of himself and his son K., listing the Moscow Border Control as defendant. 34.     On 29 August 2002, at the directions hearing, the defendants disclosed that they had acted on the orders of the Federal Security Service (FSB). The court joined the FSB as a co-defendant. 35.     On 5 September 2002 the defendant requested that jurisdiction be transferred to the Moscow Regional Court because matters involving State secrets could only be examined by regional courts. The court granted their request in an interim decision. 36.     On 25 March 2003, after repeated adjournments, the hearing was held in camera before the Moscow Regional Court. The applicant and K. were represented by counsel and an officer of the Unification Church in Russia, both of whom were required to give an undertaking not to disclose the contents of the proceedings. 37.     The Moscow Regional Court dismissed the complaint. On the issue of whether the applicant had posed a threat to national security, the judgment stated as following: “The representative of the first deputy head of the Department for the Protection of the Constitutional Order and the Fight against Terrorism, of the Russian FSB Directorate ... did not accept the appellants’ claims, and presented a written defence to the complaint ... In support of his position the representative pointed out that his client had approved the report to deny US citizen Patrick Francis Nolan entry into the Russian Federation, which was prepared by the Stavropol Regional Branch of the Federal Security Service on the basis of materials obtained as a result of operational and search measures. In the opinion of Russian FSB experts participating in the preparation of the report, the [applicant’s] activities in our country are of a destructive nature and pose a threat to the security of the Russian Federation. The representative ... emphasised that the threat to State security is created by the activities, not the religious beliefs of [the applicant].” 38.     Nowhere else in the nine-page text of the judgment did the Regional Court indicate what “activities” had posed a threat to national security. It may, however, be inferred from the judgment that the applicant’s phone conversations had been intercepted by the FSB pursuant to a certain earlier court order. 39.     It also appears that the Regional Court examined an information letter from the Federal Security Service of 29 May 2000, entitled “Information on the activities of representatives of non-traditional religious associations on Russian territory”, which stated, in particular, as follows: “Representatives of such foreign sectarian communities as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Moon’s Unification Church ... under the cover of religion establish extensive governing structures which they use for gathering socio-political, economic, military and other information about ongoing events in Russia, indoctrinate the citizens and incite separatist tendencies ... Missionary organisations purposefully work towards implementing the goals set by certain Western circles with a view to creating the conditions in Russia and perfecting the procedure for practical implementation of the idea of replacing the ‘socio-psychological code’ of the population, which will automatically lead to the erasing from the people’s memory of the over a thousand-year-long history of the Russian State and the questioning of such concepts as national self-identification, patriotism, Motherland and spiritual heritage ...” 40.     As to the applicant’s overnight detention, the officers of the Moscow Border Control denied in court that the applicant had been “detained” and claimed that he had bought a ticket to Tallinn and merely waited for his flight scheduled for the following day. Although the Regional Court established that the ticket had been in fact bought in the morning of 3   June 2002, it held that this fact was “of no legal significance” and ruled that the applicant had not been deprived of his liberty. 41.     The Regional Court also noted that the Russian authorities had not prevented the applicant from reuniting with his son in any country other than Russia. His allegations about interference with his family life were therefore rejected as manifestly ill-founded. 42.     The applicant appealed, citing as grounds, inter alia , that the Regional Court had failed to examine whether the FSB had any legitimate basis in fact for its “conclusions”. He relied on Articles 5, 8, 9 and 14 of the Convention. 43.     On 19 June 2003 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, sitting in camera in a three-judge formation, dismissed the appeal. It held that there had been no violations of the applicant’s Convention rights. The judgment was based on the administrative competence of the FSB and the Border Control to take decisions in the field of national security and border control. It did not indicate what activities of the applicant were alleged to pose a threat to national security: “The decision on the issue whether or not the activities of a citizen (in respect of whom a conclusion barring entry into Russia has been issued) pose a threat to State security ... comes within the competence of the Russian authorities ... this right of the State is one of the basic elements of its sovereignty. Therefore, the [regional] court’s conclusion that the claims of the appellant and his representatives that the Russian FSB acted ultra vires are unfounded in the present case.” [so in the original] II.     RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW A.     Provisions relating to the exclusion of aliens from Russian territory 44.     A competent authority, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Federal Security Service, may issue a decision that a foreign national’s presence on Russian territory is undesirable. Such decision may be issued if a foreign national is unlawfully residing on Russian territory, or if his or her residence is lawful but creates a real threat to the defensive capacity or security of the State, to public order or health, etc. If such a decision has been given, the foreign national has to leave Russia or will otherwise be deported. The decision also forms the legal basis for subsequent refusal of re-entry into Russia (section 25.10 of the Law on the Procedure for Entering and Leaving the Russian Federation, no. 114-FZ of 15   August 1996, as amended on 10   January 2003 – “the Entry Procedure Act”). 45.     A foreign national will be refused entry into Russia if this is necessary for the purposes of ensuring the defensive capacity or security of the State, or protecting public order or health (section 27 § 1 of the Entry Procedure Act). 46 .     The Guidelines on checking the documents of persons crossing the border of the Russian Federation, ratified by order no. 0234 of the Federal Border Service of 4 August 2000 (“the Border Crossing Guidelines”), were not published or accessible to the public. The applicant submitted that they contained the following provisions, the authenticity of which was not disputed by the Government: “...upon discovery of [persons whose entry into Russia is prohibited], officials of the border control shall notify them of the grounds for refusing them entry across the border, escort them to isolated premises and place them under guard, and take measures towards deportation of such persons from the territory of the Russian Federation.” B.     Provisions on State liability for damages 47 .     The State or regional treasury is liable – irrespective of any fault by State officials – for the damage sustained by an individual on account of, in particular, unlawful criminal prosecution or unlawful application of a preventive measure in the form of placement in custody (Article 1070 § 1 of the Civil Code). A court may hold the tortfeasor liable for non-pecuniary damage incurred by an individual through actions impairing his or her personal non-property rights, such as the right to personal integrity and the right to liberty of movement (Articles 150 and 151 of the Civil Code). Non-pecuniary damage must be compensated for irrespective of the tortfeasor’s fault in the event of, in particular, unlawful conviction or prosecution or unlawful application of a preventive measure in the form of placement in custody (Article 1100 § 2). III.     RELEVANT TRAVAUX PRÉPARATOIRES 48 .     The Explanatory Report to Protocol No. 7 (ETS No. 117) defines the scope of application of Article 1 of Protocol No. 7 in the following manner: “9. The word ‘resident’ is intended to exclude from the application of the article any alien who has arrived at a port or other point of entry but has not yet passed through the immigration control or who has been admitted to the territory for the purpose only of transit or for a limited period for a non-residential purpose... The word lawfully refers to the domestic law of the State concerned. It is therefore for domestic law to determine the conditions which must be fulfilled for a person’s presence in the territory to be considered ‘lawful’. ... [A]n alien whose admission and stay were subject to certain conditions, for example a fixed period, and who no longer complies with these conditions cannot be regarded as being still ‘lawfully’ present.” 49 .     The Report further cites definitions of the notion of “lawful residence” contained in other international instruments: Article 11 of the European Convention on Social and Medical Assistance (1953) “a.     Residence by an alien in the territory of any of the Contracting Parties shall be considered lawful within the meaning of this Convention so long as there is in force in his case a permit or such other permission as is required by the laws and regulations of the country concerned to reside therein... b.     Lawful residence shall become unlawful from the date of any deportation order made out against the person concerned, unless a stay of execution is granted.” Section II of the Protocol to the European Convention on Establishment (1955) “a.     Regulations governing the admission, residence and movement of aliens and also their right to engage in gainful occupations shall be unaffected by this Convention insofar as they are not inconsistent with it; b.     Nationals of a Contracting Party shall be considered as lawfully residing in the territory of another Party if they have conformed to the said regulations.” 50 .     The Report clarifies the notion of “expulsion” as follows: “10. The concept of expulsion is used in a generic sense as meaning any measure compelling the departure of an alien from the territory but does not include extradition. Expulsion in this sense is an autonomous concept which is independent of any definition contained in domestic legislation. Nevertheless, for the reasons explained in paragraph 9 above, it does not apply to the refoulement of aliens who have entered the territory unlawfully, unless their position has been subsequently regularised. 11. Paragraph 1 of this article provides first that the person concerned may be expelled only ‘in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with law’. No exceptions may be made to this rule. However, again, ‘law’ refers to the domestic law of the State concerned. The decision must therefore be taken by the competent authority in accordance with the provisions of substantive law and with the relevant procedural rules.” THE LAW I.     THE GOVERNMENT’S COMPLIANCE WITH ARTICLE 38 OF THE CONVENTION 51 .     The Court observes that on 1 March 2005, when communicating the application to the Government, it asked them to produce a copy of the report by the Federal Security Service dated 18 February 2002, for the purpose of clarifying the factual grounds for the applicant’s exclusion from Russia. Mindful of the sensitive nature of the report, it reminded the Government of the possibility of restricting public access to the document in accordance with Rule 33 §§ 1 and 2 of the Rules of Court. The Government refused to produce the report on the ground that Russian law did not lay down a procedure for communicating information classified as a State secret to an international organisation. 52.     At the admissibility stage the Court reiterated the request for a copy of the report of 18 February 2002 and also put questions to the parties as regards the Government’s compliance with their obligations under Article   38 of the Convention, the relevant part of which reads as follows: Article 38 “1. If the Court declares the application admissible, it shall (a) pursue the examination of the case, together with the representatives of the parties, and if need be, undertake an investigation, for the effective conduct of which the States concerned shall furnish all necessary facilities ...” 53.     In their observations on the merits of the case, the Government declined once again to submit the report, stating that it contained operative and investigative information about the “unlawful activity of P.F. Nolan [in] the territory of the Russian Federation”. That information was a State secret and could not be made available to the Court. The Government claimed that their refusal was compatible with the duties of the State and derived from the provisions of Article 10 of the Convention. 54.     In his statement to the Court dated 10 November 2005, Mr K., the applicant’s representative in the domestic proceedings, stated that he was aware of the contents of the report of 18 February 2002 but, bound by the non-disclosure undertaking, was unable to inform the Court of its contents. 55.     The Court reiterates that it is of the utmost importance for the effective operation of the system of individual petition instituted under Article 34 of the Convention that States should furnish all necessary facilities to make possible a proper and effective examination of applications (see Tanrıkulu v. Turkey [GC], no. 23763/94, § 70, ECHR 1999 ‑ IV). This obligation requires the Contracting States to furnish all necessary facilities to the Court, whether it is conducting a fact-finding investigation or performing its general duties as regards the examination of applications. Failure on a Government’s part to submit such information which is in their hands, without a satisfactory explanation, may not only give rise to the drawing of inferences as to the well-foundedness of the applicant’s allegations, but may also reflect negatively on the level of compliance by a respondent State with its obligations under Article 38 §   1   (a) of the Convention (see Timurtaş v. Turkey , no. 3531/94, § 66, ECHR 2000-VI). 56.     The Court notes that the Government failed to produce a copy of the document requested by the Court, despite repeated requests to that effect. They did not deny that the report was in their possession. By way of justification for their refusal, they referred to the absence of an established procedure for making available such documents to international organisations. However, the Court reiterates that in ratifying the Convention, the States Parties have agreed, under Article 38 § 1 (a) of the Convention, to furnish all necessary facilities for the effective conduct of the Court’s investigation. That obligation implies putting in place any such procedures as would be necessary for unhindered communication and exchange of documents with the Court. In these circumstances, a mere reference to the structural deficiency of the domestic law which renders impossible the communication of sensitive documents to international bodies is an insufficient explanation to justify the withholding of key information requested by the Court. Furthermore, it is noted that the report was examined in the domestic proceedings and the applicant’s representative in those proceedings was allowed to take cognisance of its contents but he could not disclose its contents to the Court because of the confidentiality undertaking he had been required to sign. This fact indicates that the nature of the information contained in the report was not such as to exclude any possibility of making it known to anyone outside the secret intelligence services and the highest State officials. Finally, even if there existed legitimate State security concerns preventing the disclosure of the report, the Government should have been able to address those concerns by editing out the sensitive passages or supplying a summary of the relevant factual grounds, whereas in the present case they have done neither. 57.     Having regard to the importance of cooperation by the respondent Government in Convention proceedings and the difficulties associated with the establishment of the facts in cases such as the present one, the Court finds that the Russian Government fell short of their obligations under Article 38 § 1 (a) of the Convention on account of their failure to submit a copy of the requested report. II.     ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION 58 .     The applicant complained under Article 9 of the Convention about his exclusion from Russia, which allegedly purported to penalise him for manifesting and spreading his religion. Article 9 reads as follows: “1.     Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. 2.     Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.” A.     Submissions by the parties 59.     In the applicant’s view, the Government accepted in their submissions on the admissibility and merits that the sanction of exclusion from Russia had been imposed on him in connection with his religious activities. Accordingly, that sanction amounted to an interference with his right to freedom of religion. He pointed out that the distinction between “activity” and religious beliefs, drawn by the Russian authorities and the Government in their submissions, was artificial and ineffective since Article   9 of the Convention protected both religious belief ( forum internum ) and its manifestation in practice ( forum externum ). As regards the justification for the interference, the applicant emphasised that the interests of national security relied upon in the domestic proceedings were not included as a legitimate aim in paragraph 2 of Article 9. The Russian Government’s official national security policy defining “foreign” religions and missionaries as a threat to national security was incompatible with the Convention. Religious plurality was at the foundation of a democratic society: national security required that governments protect it, not oppose it. Furthermore, the applicant submitted that neither he nor the Unification Church had ever engaged in any criminal activities, evidence of this being provided by the opinion submitted by the Expert Council to the Ministry of Justice (see paragraph 8 above). The evidence examined in unrelated proceedings before the Promyshlenniy District Court in Stavropol, to which the Government had referred in their pre-admissibility submissions, had not made any reference whatsoever to the applicant. Neither the evidence nor the District Court’s judgment had been relied upon by the State authorities in the proceedings concerning the applicant’s exclusion, nor had they been attached to the file. The applicant maintained that there was no justification for the interference with his rights under Article 9 of the Convention. 60.     The Government submitted that the applicant’s expulsion was justified in the light of the European Parliament’s Resolution on Cults in Europe of 29 February 1996, in which it had expressed concern over certain cults “engaging in activities of an illicit or criminal nature and in violations of human rights, such as maltreatment, sexual abuse, unlawful detention, slavery, the encouragement of aggressive behaviour or propagation of racist ideologies, tax fraud, illegal transfers of funds, trafficking in arms or drugs, violation of labour laws, the illegal practice of medicine”. The Government also referred to the same effect to Recommendation 1178 (1992) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on sects and new religious movements and the Committee of Ministers’ supplementary reply to that Recommendation, adopted on 17 February 1994 (doc. 7030). The Government inferred from those documents that States had the right and obligation to exercise vigilance and caution in such sensitive matters as spreading religious teachings. The applicant’s activity as a coordinator of Rev. Moon’s groups had been merely a “motive” rather than a “ground” for the Russian authorities “to exercise vigilance and make use of existing legal instruments”. The grounds for the applicant’s exclusion were the results of the operational and search measures as reflected in the report by the Stavropol Regional Branch of the Federal Security Service, dated 18   February 2002, concerning the banning of the applicant from the Russian Federation. As the Moscow City Court had pointed out in its judgment of 25   March 2003, the applicant’s activities in the Russian territory were “of a destructive nature and pose[d] a threat to the security of the Russian Federation”. The Government emphasised that the threat resulted from the applicant’s activities rather than his religious beliefs. B.     The Court’s assessment 1.     Existence of an interference with the applicant’s right to freedom of religion 61.     The Court reiterates its consistent approach that freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as enshrined in Article 9, is one of the foundations of a “democratic society” within the meaning of the Convention. It is, in its religious dimension, one of the most vital elements that go to make up the identity of believers and their conception of life, but it is also a precious asset for atheists, agnostics, sceptics and the unconcerned. The pluralism indissociable from a democratic society, which has been dearly won over the centuries, depends on it. While religious freedom is primarily a matter of individual conscience, it also implies, inter alia , freedom to “manifest [one’s] religion”. Bearing witness in words and deeds is bound up with the existence of religious convictions. The Court has held on many occasions that the imposition of administrative or criminal sanctions for manifestation of religious belief or exercise of the right to freedom of religion was an interference with the rights guaranteed under Article 9 § 1 of the Convention (see Serif v. Greece , no.   38178/97, §   39, ECHR 1999 ‑ IX; Larissis and Others v. Greece , 24   February 1998, §   38, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998 ‑ I, and Kokkinakis v. Greece , 25 May 1993, §   36, Series   A no.   260 ‑ A). 62.     The gist of the applicant’s complaint was not that he was not allowed to stay or live in Russia but rather that his religious beliefs and/or activities had prompted the Russian authorities to ban his re-entry. The Court reiterates in this connection that, whereas the right of a foreigner to enter or remain in a country is not as such guaranteed by the Convention, immigration controls have to be exercised consistently with Convention obligations (see Abdulaziz, Cabales and Balkandali v. the United Kingdom , 28 May 1985, §§ 59-60, Series   A no.   94). As regards specifically Article 9, it emphasises that “deportation does not ... as such constitute an interference with the rights guaranteed by Article 9, unless it can be established that the measure was designed to repress the exercise of such rights and stifle the spreading of the religion or philosophy of the followers” (see Omkarananda and the Divine Light Zentrum v. Switzerland , no. 8118/77, Commission decision of 19 March 1981, Decisions and Reports (DR) 25, p. 118). More recently, the Court has examined cases against Bulgaria, in which the State’s use of immigration controls as an instrument to put an end to an applicant’s religious activities within its jurisdiction was found to have given rise to an admissible complaint of an interference with rights under Article 9 (see Al-Nashif v.   Bulgaria (dec.), no.   50963/99, 25 January 2001, and Lotter v. Bulgaria (dec.), no. 39015/97, 5 November 1997). In a Latvian case the Court held that the refusal to issue an Evangelical pastor with a permanent residence permit “for religious activities”, a decision which had been grounded on national-security considerations, amounted to an interference with the applicant’s right to freedom of religion (see Perry v.   Latvia , no. 30273/03, §§ 10 and 53, 8   November 2007). It follows that, in so far as the measure relating to the continuation of the applicant’s residence in a given State was imposed in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of religion, such measure may disclose an interference with that right. 63.     Accordingly, the Court’s task in the present case is to establish whether the applicant’s exclusion from Russia was connected with his exercise of the right to freedom of religion. The Court observes that the applicant