Přehled
Rozsudek
THIRD SECTION
CASE OF MIKHAYLOVA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
(Applications nos. 36789/21 and 22 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
13 November 2025
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Mikhaylova and Others v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, President,
Mateja Đurović,
Vasilka Sancin, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 23 October 2025,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in applications against Russia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.
2. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
4. The applicants complained of the disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies in St Petersburg in connection with their participation in various public events in breach of regional COVID-19-related restrictions. The applicants also raised other complaints under the provisions of the Convention.
THE LAW
- JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
- JURISDICTION
6. The Court observes that the facts giving rise to the alleged violations of the Convention occurred prior to 16 September 2022, the date on which the Russian Federation ceased to be a party to the Convention. The Court therefore decides that it has jurisdiction to examine the present applications (see Fedotova and Others v. Russia [GC], nos. 40792/10 and 2 others, §§ 68‑73, 17 January 2023).
- ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 11 OF THE CONVENTION
7. The applicants complained principally of disproportionate measures taken against them as organisers or participants of public assemblies in connection with their participation in various public events in breach of COVID-19-related restrictions, namely their arrest in relation to the dispersal of these assemblies and their conviction for administrative offences. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 11 of the Convention.
8. The Court refers to the principles established in its case-law regarding freedom of assembly (see Kudrevičius and Others v. Lithuania [GC], no. 37553/05, ECHR 2015, with further references) and proportionality of interference with it (see Oya Ataman v. Turkey, no. 74552/01, ECHR 2006‑XIV, and Hyde Park and Others v. Moldova, no. 33482/06, 31 March 2009).
9. In the leading case of Nemytov and Others v. Russia, nos. 1257/21 and 2 others, §§ 136-51, 27 May 2025, the Court found a violation of Article 11 in respect of issues similar to those in the present case (see further Frumkin v. Russia, no. 74568/12, ECHR 2016 (extracts), Navalnyy and Yashin v. Russia, no. 76204/11, 4 December 2014 and Kasparov and Others v. Russia, no. 21613/07, 3 October 2013).
10. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion as to the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the interferences with the applicants’ freedom of assembly were not “necessary in a democratic society”.
11. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention.
- OTHER ALLEGED VIOLATIONS UNDER WELL-ESTABLISHED CASE-LAW
12. Some applicants submitted other complaints which also raised issues under the Convention and its Protocols, given the relevant well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table). These complaints are not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention, nor are they inadmissible on any other ground. Accordingly, they must be declared admissible.
13. Having examined all the material before it, the Court concludes that these complaints also disclose violations of the Convention and its Protocols in the light of its findings in Butkevich v. Russia, no. 5865/07, §§ 63-65, 13 February 2018, Tsvetkova and Others v. Russia, nos. 54381/08 and 5 others, §§ 115-31, 10 April 2018, and Korneyeva v. Russia, no. 72051/17, §§ 34-36, 8 October 2019, as to various aspects of unlawful deprivation of liberty of organisers or participants of public assemblies; Karelin v. Russia, no. 926/08, §§ 58-85, 20 September 2016, concerning the absence of a prosecuting party in the proceedings under the Code of Administrative Offences (the CAO); and Martynyuk v. Russia, no. 13764/15, §§ 38-42, 8 October 2019, relating to the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal against the sentence of administrative detention.
- REMAINING COMPLAINTS
14. Some applicants raised further additional complaints under Article 6 of the Convention concerning other aspects of fairness of the administrative-offence proceedings. In view of the findings in paragraphs 9-13 above, the Court considers that there is no need to deal separately with these remaining complaints.
- APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
15. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see in particular Navalnyy and Others v. Russia [Committee], nos. 25809/17 and 14 others, § 22, 4 October 2022), the Court finds it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
- Decides to join the applications;
- Holds that it has jurisdiction to deal with these applications as they relate to facts that took place before 16 September 2022;
- Declares the complaints under Article 11 of the Convention and the other complaints under the well-established case-law of the Court, as set out in the appended table, admissible, and finds that there is no need to examine separately the remaining complaints under Article 6 of the Convention;
- Holds that these applications disclose a breach of Article 11 of the Convention;
- Holds that there has been a violation of the Convention and the Protocols thereto as regards the other complaints raised under the well-established case-law of the Court (see appended table);
- Holds
(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;
(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 13 November 2025, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Úna Ní Raifeartaigh
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 11 of the Convention
(disproportionate measures against organisers and participants of public assemblies)
No. | Application no. Date of introduction | Applicant’s name Year of birth | Representative’s name and location | Name of the public event Location Date | Administrative / criminal offence | Penalty | Final domestic decision Court Name Date | Other complaints under well‑established case-law | Amount awarded for pecuniary and non‑pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant (in euros)[1] |
36789/21 05/07/2021 | Yelena Vladimirovna MIKHAYLOVA 1992 | Gerasimov Dmitriy Georgiyevich St Petersburg | Rally to support A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | administrative detention of 10 days | St Petersburg City Court 09/02/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - on 31/01/2021 escorting to a police station for compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings, Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - lack of suspensive effect of an appeal against the sentence of detention, the applicant started serving his detention immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence by the first-instance trial court | 5,000 | |
37908/21 16/07/2021 | Margarita Igorevna BRANT 1991 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | St Petersburg City Court 11/03/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention – arrest, escorting to the police station, detention on 31/01/2021 for compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
38370/21 02/07/2021 | Dmitriy Sergeyevich DOLGIKH 1993 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally to support A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | St Petersburg City Court 02/03/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - on 31/01/2021 escorting to a police station for compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
39028/21 22/07/2021 | Dmitriy Petrovich BURAKOV 1981 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St. Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | St. Petersburg City Court 01/06/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest and detention on 31/01/2021 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
40132/21 23/07/2021 | Aleksiy Vladimirovich ESAULENKO 1995 | Cherkasov Vitaliy Viktorovich St Petersburg | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 23/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 02/03/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention- arrest, escorting to a police station, detention (i) from 6.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. on 23/01/2021, for the sole purpose of drawing up an administrative offence record - detention discontinued as the applicant was transferred to a hospital on the same date; and (ii) immediately after his discharge from the hospital, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 25/01/2021, as administrative suspect, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
40138/21 23/07/2021 | Anastasiya Vadimovna PEREVOZCHIKOVA 1995 | Cherkasov Vitaliy Viktorovich St Petersburg | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 23/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 02/03/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention (i) from 6.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. on 23/01/2021, for the sole purpose of drawing up an administrative offence record - detention discontinued as the applicant was transferred to a hospital on the same date; and (ii) immediately after her discharge from the hospital, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 25/01/2021, as administrative suspect, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
46233/21 01/09/2021 | Andrey Maryanovich ANDRUKOVICH 1994 | Peredruk Aleksandr Dmitriyevich St Petersburg | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | administrative detention of 10 days | St Petersburg City Court 02/03/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention between 31/01/2021 to 01/02/2021 as administrative suspect, pending trial and after the offence record had been compiled, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceeding, Prot. 7 Art. 2 - delayed review of conviction by a higher tribunal - the sentence of administrative detention imposed on the applicant on 01/02/2021 was executed immediately, on account of the lack of suspensive effect of an appeal under the CAO | 5,000 | |
51059/21 05/10/2021 | Bogdan Gennadyevich LITVIN 1994 | Loktev Sergey Aleksandrovich St Petersburg | Rally (performance) to support Twitter St Petersburg 30/03/2021 | article 20.2 § 2 of CAO | administrative detention of 7 days | St Petersburg City Court 06/04/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - on 30/03/2021 and 01/04/2021 escorting to and detention in a police station for and after compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 5,000 | |
51397/21 30/09/2021 | Yaroslav Aleksandrovich KUVYATKIN 1989 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | St Petersburg City Court 06/04/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - on 31/01/2021 escorting to a police station for compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
56617/21 27/10/2021 | Dmitriy Viktorovich DELOV 1991 | MOO MEMORIAL Human Rights Centre St Petersburg | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2. § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 27/04/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station on 31/01/2021 for and after compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
1098/22 17/12/2021 | Ilya Alekseyevich POTAPENKO 1997 | Memorial Human Rights Centre Moscow | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 02/02/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 24/06/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station on 03/02/2021 for and after compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
4245/22 21/12/2021 | Grigoriy Nikolayevich KUDRYASHOV 1994 | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St. Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St. Petersburg City Court 22/06/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 31/01/2021 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | ||
5132/22 30/12/2021 | Tatyana Vladimirovna NOVIKOVA 1992 | Zyryanova Mariya Sergeyevna St Petersburg | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2. § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 10/08/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 31/01/2021, for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
7987/22 13/01/2022 | Andrey Vladimirovich KOCHEMASOV 1998 | Karagodina Veronika Yuryevna St Petersburg | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 15/07/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 31/01/2021 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
31739/22 07/06/2022 | Yelena Sergeyevna SOKOLOVA 1998 | Semenov Daniil Aleksandrovich St Petersburg | Rally in support of A. Navalnyy St Petersburg 31/01/2021 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 20,000 | St Petersburg City Court 07/12/2021 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention – arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 31/01/2021 for the sole purpose of drawing up an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
43960/22 18/08/2022 | Ilya Sergeyevich KOLMAKOV 1982 | Zyryanova Mariya Sergeyevna St Petersburg | Anti-war rally St Petersburg 06/03/2022 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 19/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention – arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 06/03/2022 for the sole purpose of drawing up an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
44437/22 19/08/2022 | Anna Kirillovna SMAZNOVA 1998 | Ivanov Nikifor Yuryevich St Petersburg | Anti-war rally St Petersburg 24/02/2022 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 5,000 | St Petersburg City Court 19/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 24/02/2022 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
44590/22 18/08/2022 | Artem Anatolyevich ANDREYEV 1989 | Ivanov Nikifor Yuryevich St Petersburg | Anti-war protest St Petersburg 24/02/2022 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 5,000 | St Petersburg City Court 19/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to and detention at the police station on 24/02/2022 for the sole purpose of drawing up an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
45804/22 25/08/2022 | Tatyana Sergeyevna ROSTALNAYA 1993 | Anti-war rally St Petersburg 27/02/2022 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 26/04/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to and detention at the police station on 27/02/2022 for the sole purpose of compiling an offence report, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | ||
47345/22 14/09/2022 | Daniil Sergeyevich GRACHEV 1993 | Gerasimova Yekaterina Viktorovna St Petersburg | Anti-war rally St Petersburg 02/03/2022 | article 20.2.2. § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | St Petersburg City Court 31/05/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - escorting to and detention at the police station on 02/03/2022 for compiling an offence record, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
50664/22 30/09/2022 | Dmitriy Yevgenyevich POPOV 1993 | Baranova Natalya Andreyevna Moscow | Anti-war rally St Petersburg 28/02/2022 | article 20.2 § 2 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 31/05/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 28/02/2022 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
3121/23 23/12/2022 | Andrey Grigoryevich BARANYUK 1964 | Shiolashvili Mikhail Germanovich St Petersburg | Anti-war rally St Petersburg 27/02/2022 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 10,000 | St Petersburg City Court 25/08/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station, detention on 27/02/2022 for the sole purpose of drawing up a record of administrative offence, Art. 6 (1) - lack of impartiality of the tribunal in view of the absence of a prosecuting party in administrative-offence proceedings | 4,000 | |
4704/23 05/01/2023 | Yuliya Aleksandrovna PANFILOVA 2002 | Shiolashvili Mikhail Germanovich St Petersburg | Anti-war rally St Petersburg 27/02/2022 | article 20.2.2 § 1 of CAO | fine of RUB 15,000 | St Petersburg City Court 27/10/2022 | Art. 5 (1) - unlawful detention - arrest, escorting to a police station and detention on 27/02/2022 for the sole purpose of drawing a record of administrative offence | 4,000 |
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.