ECtHR recognizes violation of rights of three activists from Southern Russia

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recognized the violation of the rights of activists detained at protest actions in Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, and Stavropol, and obliged the authorities of Russia, which refused to comply with the decisions of the Strasbourg Court, to pay them compensation.

The ECtHR granted the complaint filed by Daniil Golovachyov, a resident of Stavropol, who was fined for participating in a rally against the pension reform held in September 2018 without a sanction from the authorities. The ECtHR awarded Daniil Golovachyov the compensation of 3500 euros, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* reports.

The ECtHR also found violations of the rights of Ksenia Seredkina. In particular, the ECtHR pointed to unlawful deprivation of liberty (detention on the day of the protest action to draw up a protocol on an administrative offense and detention in a police station for more than three hours) and the lack of a fair trial. The ECtHR awarded Ksenia Seredkina the compensation amounting to 4000 euros.

On August 10, 2019, Ksenia Seredkina, a coordinator of the Rostov-on-Don office** of Alexei Navalny***, was detained at a picket in Rostov-on-Don in support of independent candidates for the Moscow City Duma.

The ECtHR also granted the complaint filed by Galina Tikhenko, a resident of the Volgograd Region, who was detained at the celebration of Independence Day in Volgograd in June 2012. The ECtHR awarded Galina Tikhenko the compensation of 3750 euros.

Pensioner Galina Tikhenko was detained at an opposition rally in Volgograd on June 12. The police explained that the woman who came to the rally with posters reading: “For honest power”, “No to the police state” and others, was to coordinate them with the organizers. The court found Galina Tikhenko guilty of committing an administrative offense, but freed her from liability, limiting the punishment to an oral reprimand.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**Navalny’s offices are recognized as extremist organizations and banned in Russia.

***Alexei Navalny is included in the list of extremists and terrorists by the “Rosfinmonitoring” (the Russian Federal Service for Financial Monitoring). He is a founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (known as FBK), an NCO that is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of NCOs performing functions of a foreign agent. The NCO is also recognized by a court as extremist and banned in the territory of Russia. Alexei Navalny was sentenced conditionally in a case on fraud, and in February 2021, his conditional sentence was replaced with imprisonment. In a penal colony, Alexei Navalny was charged with fraud and contempt of court and sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment. He is also accused of disorganizing the penal colony, extremism, and the rehabilitation of Nazism. In April 2023, Alexei Navalny said that he faced a life sentence in the case on terrorism. Recognized as a “prisoner of conscience.”