CEDH · CASELAW;DECISIONS;ADMISSIBILITYCOM;ENG — 25 septembre 2018

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Their personal details appear in the appended table. 2.     The Russian Government ("the Government") were represented initially by Mr G. Matyushkin, the Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Court of Human Rights, and then by his successor in that office, Mr M. Galperin. 3.     The facts of the cases, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 4.     On various dates between 2005 and 2011 the applicants were criminally prosecuted and convicted of various offences. 5.     The applicants’ convictions were based among other evidence on the statements of one or more witnesses for prosecution, which were made during pre-trial stages of the proceedings and read out in open court while those witnesses were absent. 6.     Allowing the witnesses’ pre-trial statements as evidence the trial courts in their judgments relied on the impossibility to locate them, and/or their refusal to appear at court, and/or remoteness of their place of residence as well as engagements existing at the material time and/or their poor state of health that made impossible for them to appear before the court. 7.     The convictions were based on a multiplicity of evidence, including statements by the applicants made at the pre-trial stage and at trial in the presence of their lawyers, trial statements by the police officers, other witnesses for prosecution, material and documentary evidence. The domestic courts analysed the witnesses’ pre-trial statements and established their coherence and consistency with other evidence. 8.     The judgments of the trial courts were upheld on appeal. COMPLAINTS 9.     The applicants complained under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention that the domestic courts had not provided good reasons for reading-out of the pre-trial statements of the witnesses for prosecution and thus the applicants had been unable to have those witnesses examined at the trial. THE LAW 10.     The Court first considers that in accordance with Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications listed in the appended table should be joined, given their common legal background. 11.     The respondent Government in their observations argued that applicants had had a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. They argued that the applicants’ convictions were based on other abundant evidence. Referring to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, as well as the relevant interpretative guidelines and practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Government contended that the Russian legal system had afforded the applicants sufficient procedural safeguards aimed at securing their right to examine witnesses testifying against them and guarantees of a fair trial. 12.     Certain applicants disagreed, while the others did not provide specific arguments. 13.     The Court has carefully examined the applications listed in the appended table and concluded that, in the light of the Court’s primary concern under Article 6 § 1 to evaluate the overall fairness of the criminal proceedings (see Al-Khawaja and Tahery v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos.   26766/05 and 22228/06, § 118, ECHR 2011, and Schatschaschwili v.   Germany [GC], no.   9154/10, § 101, ECHR 2015), the presumption that in principle the Russian legal system offers robust procedural guarantees securing the right of an accused to examine witnesses testifying against him, ensuring that the reading out of absent witnesses’ testimony is possible only as an exception (see Zadumov v. Russia , no. 2257/12, § 63, 12   December 2017, recently reiterated in Kiba and Others (dec.), nos. 38047/08 and 2   others, § 16, 17 April 2018), the material in its possession, and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, the applications are manifestly ill-founded, and thus must be rejected in accordance with Article   35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention. For these reasons, the Court, unanimously, Decides to join the applications; Declares the applications inadmissible. Done in English and notified in writing on 18 October 2018.   Fatoş Aracı   Alena Poláčková   Deputy Registrar   President   APPENDIX   No. Application no. Date of introduction Applicant name Date of birth Place of residence Represented by Date of the trial and appeal courts’ judgments Witness absent from trial     10093/06 16/02/2006   Yevgeniy Valeryevich POPOV   11/05/1973 Kharp     Perm Regional Court 10/06/2005   Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 29/09/2005   Convicted of murder of several persons in conspiracy   Mrs K.     26702/06 31/05/2006   Aleksey Nikolayevich KOZLOV   11/03/1965 Petropalovsk-Kamchatskiy     Anne LE TALLEC Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy Town Court of the Kamchatka region 03/08/2005   Kamchatka Regional Court 06/12/2005   Convicted of money-laundering and abuse of power     Mr S., Mr. A., Mr L., Mr K.,   Mr Z., Mr Al., Mr M.     3344/07 12/11/2006   Anton Sergeyevich SAGOKON   05/12/1987 Rostov-na-Donu   Mikhail Valeryevich SHOLOKHOV Taganskiy Town Court of the Rostov Region 15/03/2006   Rostov Regional Court 27/06/2006   Convicted of counterfeiting of money in conspiracy     Mr N.     19677/07 09/01/2007   Sergey Alekseyevich MIKHAYLOV   27/10/1978 Pskov   Pskovskiy Town Court of the Pskov Region 30/06/2006   Pskov Regional Court 02/08/2006   Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that led to the victim’s death     Mrs Zh., Mrs I., Mrs T., Mr G.     20681/07 18/04/2007   Azamat Aydynovich KHANMAGOMEDOV   01/07/1979 Moskow   Tverskoy District Court of Moscow 30/11/2006   Moscow City Court 14/03/2007   Convicted of kidnaping and extortion in conspiracy   Mr M.     26513/07 27/04/2007   Dmitriy Viktorovich GENNE   23/06/1974 Moscow   Viktor Viktorovich GENNE   10/04/1979 Penza   Basmannuy District Court of Moscow 26/06/2006   Moscow City Court 18/12/2006   Convicted of fraud in conspiracy     Mr V., Mr Ch., Mr K., Mr A. S., Mr O. S., Mr   Sh., Mr Kich., Mr Ker., Mr A. A., Mr S. A.     32207/07 19/06/2007   Olga Gaborovna FEGER   29/04/1975 Kropotkin   Justice of the Peace of the 66th Court Circuit of Kropotkin of the Krasnodar Region 20/06/2006   Kropotkinskiy Town Court of the Krasnodar Region 07/09/2006   Krasnodar Regional Court 20/12/2006   Convicted of embezzlement       Mrs Tk., Mrs T., Mrs   K., Mrs S.     33783/07 26/07/2007   Vladimir Leonidovich GERASIMOV   19/12/1967 Ukhta   Frunzenskiy District Court of St Petersburg 21/12/2006   St Petersburg City Court 12/03/2007   Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that led to the victim’s death     Mr R.     41823/07 05/09/2007   Askhat Aipkanovich SULTANOV   20/03/1977 Skopin   Dmitriy Arkadyevich DENISOV Krasnoyarskiy District Court of the Astrakhan Region 09/03/2007   Astrakhan Regional Court 10/05/2007   Convicted of kidnapping of several people, human trafficking and abuse of power     Mr B., Mr S., Mr E., Mr Kh.   26663/08 24/04/2008   Oleg Anatolyevich ZLOTNIKOV   16/12/1960 Oktyabrskiy   Dmitriy Aleksandrovich FIRSOV Moscow Regional Court 15/08/2007   Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 25/10/2007   Convicted of organising an assassination       Mr A.   27663/08 16/04/2008   Svetlana Anatolyevna SADUAKASOVA   16/10/1966 Gorno-Altaysk   Oleg Olegovich ANISHCHIK Gorno-Altayskiy Town Court of the Republic of Altay 07/09/2007   Supreme Court of the Republic of Altay 17/10/2007   Convicted of receiving the state subsidies by fraud     Mr S.   43369/08 28/07/2008   Yuriy Anatolyevich KUZNETSOV   16/11/1962 Torbeyevo   Bryansk Regional Court 10/04/2008   Supreme Court of the Russian Federation 31/10/2011   Convicted of organisation of a criminal gang and several counts of aggravated robbery, extortion and murders     Mr P., Mrs Z.   53982/08 11/09/2008   Vladimir Nikolayevich KACHAYEV   01/09/1974 Erik   Sergey Ivanovich PETRYAKOV Chertanovskiy District Court of Moscow 23/04/2008   Moscow City Court 02/06/2008   Convicted of infliction of grievous bodily injuries that led to the victim’s death     Mrs Kh.   61834/08 14/10/2008   Dmitriy Viktorovich NIKULIN   06/08/1968 Moscou   Valeriy Vladimirovich SHUKHARDIN Perovskiy District Court of Moscow 03/03/2008   Moscow City Court 21/04/2008   Convicted of attempted murder       Mr T.   6070/09 04/12/2008   Aleksey Nikolayevich GUROV   06/06/1979 Skopin   Stavropolskiy District Court of the Samara Region 16/06/2008   Samara Regional Court 30/09/2008   Convicted of murder in conspiracy     Mr A.   9243/09 18/12/2008   Aleksandr Arsenyevich KOSULNIKOV   01/02/1970 Verkhnyaya Pyshma   Verkhnepyshminskiy Town Court of the Sverdlovsk Region 02/04/2008   Sverdlovsk Regional Court 25/07/2008   Convicted of abuse of power and sexual assault     Mrs T., Mrs P., Mrs   Zh., Mr Zh., Mr K., Mr D., Mr T., Mrs Y.   22248/09 19/03/2009   Aleksandr Mikhaylovich KAPLUNOV   06/12/1970 Volgograd   Dzerzhinskiy District Court of Volgograd 30/05/2008   Volgograd Regional Court 21/10/2008   Convicted of fraud and attempted drug dealing     Mr S.   25486/09 17/11/2008   Vladimir Viktorovich SHCHETKIN   13/06/1977 Dimitrovgrad   Yelena Nikolayevna YAZYCHENKO Dimitrovgradskiy Town Court of the Ulyanovsk Region 17/07/2008   Ulyanovsk Regional Court 03/09/2008   Convicted of participation drug dealing in conspiracy     Mr So., Mr St., Mr P.P., Mr P.A., Mrs P.G., Mrs   K., Mr Pr., Mr Pe.       32673/09 04/05/2009   Susanna Yuryevna GRIGORYAN   01/07/1979 Rostov-na-Donu   Oktyabrskiy District Court of the Rostov Region 21/08/2008   Rostov Regional Court 18/02/2009   Convicted of attempted drug dealing     Mr T.   38526/09 27/05/2009   Sergey Vyacheslavovich KONOVALOV   01/11/1971 Novosibirsk   Sovetskiy District Court of Novosibirsk 24/01/2008   Novosibirsk Regional Court 10/12/2008   Convicted of assaulted robbery in conspiracy     Mrs I.