FILATOV proti Rusku

THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 19277/20
Roman Viktorovich FILATOV
against Russia

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 6 October 2022 as a Committee composed of:

Darian Pavli, President,

Andreas Zünd,

Frédéric Krenc, judges,

and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 6 April 2020,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The applicant’s details are set out in the appended table.

The applicant was represented by Mr D.N. Matveyev, a lawyer practising in Petrozavodsk.

The applicant’s complaints under Article 6 of the Convention concerning the entrapment by State agents were communicated to the Russian Government (“the Government”).

THE LAW

The applicant complained that he had been unfairly convicted of drug related criminal offences incited by the police. This complaint falls to be examined under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which, in so far as relevant, reads as follows:

“In the determination of ... criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by [a] ... tribunal ...”

The Court has emphasised, in a number of cases, the role of domestic courts in dealing with criminal cases where the accused alleges that he was incited to commit an offence. Any arguable plea of incitement places the courts under an obligation to examine it and make conclusive findings on the issue of entrapment, with the burden of proof on the prosecution to demonstrate that there was no incitement (see Ramanauskas v. Lithuania [GC], no. 74420/01, §§ 70-71, ECHR 2008, and Khudobin v. Russia, no. 59696/00, §§ 133-135, ECHR 2006‑XII (extracts)).

The Court notes that the applicant’s plea of incitement, even though unclearly formulated, was adequately addressed by the Russian courts, which took the necessary steps to uncover the truth and to eradicate the doubts as to whether the applicant had committed the offence as a result of incitement by an agent provocateur. Their conclusion that there had been no entrapment was based on a reasonable assessment of evidence that was relevant and sufficient. The Court also does not lose sight of the fact that during the criminal proceedings before the Russian courts the applicant contested the legal classification of his acts, having changed his versions of events. Nevertheless, the Russian courts took all possible steps to verify each version to be certain that the acts imputed to the applicant did not result from unlawful actions on the part of investigative authorities domestic proceedings (see Lelyukin v. Russia (dec.), no. 70841/10, 25 August 2015; Bagaryan and Others v. Russia (dec.), nos. 3346/06 and 4 others, 12 November 2013; Trifontsov v. Russia (dec.), no. 12025/02, 9 October 2012; and Koromchakova v. Russia (dec.), no. 19185/05, 13 December 2016).

Having regard to the scope of the judicial review of the applicant’s plea of incitement, the Court finds that the applicant’s complaints are manifestly ill‑founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 (see, for similar reasoning, Bannikova v. Russia, no. 18757/06, §§ 74-79, 4 November 2010).

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Declares the application inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 27 October 2022.

Viktoriya Maradudina Darian Pavli
Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

Application raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention

(entrapment by State agents)