CASE OF GERASIMOV AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA
Preliminary objection dismissed (Article 34 - Victim);Preliminary objection joined to merits and dismissed (Article 35-1 - Exhaustion of domestic remedies);Remainder inadmissible;Violation of Article 13 - Right to an effective remedy (Article 13 - Effective remedy);Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Enforcement proceedings;Article 6-1 - Access to court);Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions);Pecuniary damage - award;Non-pecuniary damage - award
Dmitry Dedov;Elisabeth Steiner;Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre;Julia Laffranque;Khanlar Hajiyev;Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska;Ksenija Turković
8. The applicants are all Russian nationals living in various regions of the Russian Federation. They obtained binding judicial decisions ordering the State authorities to provide them with housing or various services in kind, but the enforcement of those judgments was considerably delayed. Some of the judgments remain unenforced to date. The applicants’ individual circumstances are detailed below. 9. The applicant, Mr Mikhail Yefimovich Gerasimov, was born on 30 June 1927 and lived in Vladivostok, Primorskiy Region. 10. On 3 September 2002 the Leninskiy District Court of Vladivostok ordered the town administration to conclude a contract for utilities with the applicant before 1 December 2002, and to repair the basement of the building he lived in in accordance with the sanitary regulations before the cold season. The judgment became final on 14 September 2002. 11. On 14 March and 17 May 2005 a commission composed of several members of the housing maintenance authority and residents inspected the basement and found it up to standard. 12. On the 27 July 2005 the bailiffs closed the enforcement proceedings in respect of the judgment, finding that the basement had been repaired as required. 13. On 19 July 2007 the Leninskiy District Court of Vladivostok clarified the judgment of 3 September 2002 with regard to the utilities to be supplied. The court specified that the applicant’s apartment had to be provided with heating, hot and cold water, wastewater services and a cleaning service for the communal area. The enforcement proceedings were resumed. 14. On an unspecified date, the town administration provided the applicant with a draft contract for the utilities but the applicant refused to sign it without giving a reason. 15. Considering their obligations under the judgment of 3 September 2002 to be fulfilled, the town administration requested that the enforcement proceedings be closed. The bailiffs refused. 16. On 17 October 2007 the Frunzenskiy District Court of Vladivostok dismissed the administration’s complaint against the bailiffs’ refusal to close the enforcement proceedings. 17. On 11 December 2007 the Primorskiy Regional Court granted the administration’s appeal, finding that the latter had taken all possible measures to comply with the judgment of 3 September 2002. 18. The bailiffs accordingly closed the enforcement proceedings on 21 January 2008. 19. The applicant, Mr Andrey Gennadyevich Shmakov, was born on 30 October 1960 and lives in Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutiya). 20. On 10 January 2002 the Yakutsk Town Court ordered the town administration to provide the applicant and his family with appropriate housing in Yakutsk, in accordance with the law, in lieu of his house, which had been demolished by the authorities in 2001. The judgment became final on 21 January 2002. 21. As the judgment had still not been enforced, in 2004 the applicant unsuccessfully sought a court order for the seizure of an apartment in a new block which had been built on the plot of land on which his former house had stood. 22. On 7 July 2004 the Yakutsk Town Court specified that the judgment had to be enforced by the mayor’s office of Yakutsk. 23. On 3 March 2010 the Yakutsk Town Court modified the method of enforcement, specifying that the judgment could be enforced by the payment of 1,653,264 Russian roubles (RUB) by the town administration. The applicant did not appeal against that judgment and received the monetary award on 1 July 2010. 24. The applicant, Ms Lyubov Mikaylovna Baranova, was born on 17 April 1960 and lives in Bazarniy Syzgan, Ulyanovsk Region. 25. On 14 April 2009 the Bazarnosyzganskiy District Court of the Ulyanovsk Region ordered the municipal administration to provide heating supply to her flat. On 26 May 2009 the Ulyanovsk Regional Court upheld that judgment on appeal. In a judgment of 16 July 2009 the Inzenskiy District Court of the Ulyanovsk Region specified possible ways of enforcing the judgment of 14 April 2009, namely, by ensuring either a hot water or natural gas supply for heating purposes. 26. On 23 March 2010 an individual gas heating device was installed in the applicant’s flat. 27. On 14 July 2010 the bailiffs closed the enforcement proceedings on the ground that the respondent authority had properly complied with the judgment of 14 April 2009. 28. The applicant, Ms Tatyana Salikhzanovna Kostyleva, was born on 13 September 1960 and lives in Syktyvkar, Republic of Komi. 29. On 2 October 2000 the Syktyvkar Town Court ordered the town administration to renovate the building in which the applicant held a flat under a social tenancy agreement. The judgment became final on 10 November 2000 (“the first judgment”). 30. On 1 December 2000 the bailiffs commenced the enforcement proceedings. The building has at times been included in the town’s plans to renovate municipal housing but the repairs have never been carried out owing to a lack of funds and a shortage of temporary housing facilities where residents could be relocated during the renovation. 31. On 20 July 2009 the Syktyvkar Town Court found that the applicant was still living in unsuitable conditions and ordered the town administration to provide her and her family with comfortable housing of at least 40.8 sq. m. On 5 August 2009 the judgment became final (“the second judgment”) and on 12 August 2009 the bailiffs started the enforcement proceedings. 32. On 10 February 2010 the Syktyvkar Town Court dismissed the authorities’ request for a stay on the enforcement of the second judgment, considering that such a course of action would endanger the applicant’s and her family’s life and health. The bailiffs’ made repeated, albeit unsuccessful attempts to secure the enforcement of the judgment by the town administration, including by warning the head of administration of his criminal liability under Article 315 of the Criminal Code. 33. Neither the first nor the second judgment in the applicant’s favour has been enforced to date. According to the latest information received by the Court, she was still living in the same building. On the evening of 14 May 2012 there was an electrical short circuit in the communal area on the first floor, provoking a smoke emission in the building. 34. Meanwhile, the competent authorities continued the enforcement proceedings. After the communication of the present application to the Russian Government, the bailiffs requested the Syktyvkar Town Court on 23 May 2012 to provide them with a duplicate of the writ of execution in respect of the first judgment, which had been lost shortly after its delivery. On 27 June 2012 the court ordered a duplicate of the writ of execution to be delivered and the bailiffs resumed the enforcement proceedings on 13 September 2012. On that date the bailiff of the Inter-District Division for Special Enforcement Procedures in the Komi Republic (Межрайонный отдел судебных приставов по особым исполнительным производствам Управления Федеральной службы судебных приставов по Республике Коми) decided as follows: “1. To initiate enforcement proceedings no. 10594/12/22/11 [in respect of the Syktyvkar Town Administration]. 2. To set a time-limit of five days for the debtor’s voluntary compliance with the requirements provided for in the writ of execution (section 30(12) of the Federal Law ‘On enforcement proceedings’). 3. To warn the debtor that it will be liable to pay an enforcement fee of RUB 5,000 in the event of non-compliance within the time-limit set and failure to produce evidence that enforcement is impossible on account of extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances. In the event of extraordinary and objectively unavoidable circumstances and other unexpected and insurmountable obstacles making voluntary enforcement impossible, the debtor is requested to inform the bailiff accordingly within the time-limit set for voluntary compliance. 4. To warn the debtor that under section 6 of Federal Law no. 229-FZ of 2 October 2007 on enforcement proceedings the requirements of the bailiff are binding on all State authorities, local authorities, individuals and organisations and must be rigorously complied with throughout the territory of the Russian Federation. 5. To warn the debtor that under section 105(2) of Federal Law no. 229-FZ of 2 October 2007 on enforcement proceedings the bailiff may impose a fine provided for by Article 17.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences on a debtor who does not fulfil, within a new time-limit, the requirements set out in the writ of execution. 6. To warn the debtor that under sections 116 and 117 of Federal Law no. 229-FZ of 2 October 2007 on enforcement proceedings the expenses related to the enforcement proceedings are to be paid back by the debtor to the federal budget, the creditor and anyone else who incurred those expenses. 7. To warn the debtor that State officials may be prosecuted under Article 315 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for non-enforcement of a judicial decision. ... ” 35. On 2 August 2012 the bailiff was informed by the Town Administration that the enforcement of the judgment was impossible owing to a lack of available flats. 36. On 10 October 2012 the bailiff informed the applicant that the enforcement proceedings in respect of the second judgment were still pending along with 309 other similar judgments against the town administration. The bailiff noted that the delay in enforcement could be explained, in particular, by the high number of judgments to be enforced, the lack of available flats and insufficient funding allocated for the building of new flats. The enforcement proceedings referred to by the bailiffs in the applicant’s case included compulsory requests for the allocation of flats, the inclusion of additional funds in the budget, the identification of available housing and the seizure of available flats with a view to their allocation in accordance with the waiting list. The bailiff also informed the applicant that she was no. 39 on the waiting list. 37. On 11 January 2013 the bailiff warned the head of the town administration about criminal liability under Article 315 of the Criminal Code for non-enforcement of a judgment. 38. According to the latest information, the applicant had moved up to no. 27 on the waiting list. 39. The applicant, Mr Yuriy Vasilyevich Starostenkov, was born on 8 June 1954 and lives in Smolensk. A retired police officer, he was assigned to life-long disability category two in 1993 on account of injuries sustained during his service. 40. On 3 July 2008 the Velizhskiy District Court of the Smolensk Region upheld the applicant’s right to be provided with a car for rehabilitation purposes and ordered the Department for Social Development of the Smolensk Region to ensure he was provided with one. This judgment became final on 18 July 2008. 41. On 2 September 2008 the court supplemented the judgment of 3 July 2008, specifying that the applicant’s right to a car might be secured either at the expense of the regional budget or by informing the Federal Health Agency of his needs. However, the judgment was not enforced. 42. After the communication of the present application to the Russian Government, on 19 June 2012 the bailiff imposed a fine of RUB 30,000 on the debtor authority in accordance with Article 17.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences. On 7 August 2012 the bailiff’s decision was quashed by the Leninskiy District Court of Smolensk on the ground that the debtor authority’s act did not amount to an administrative offence. 43. On 2 October 2012 the bailiff warned the head of the debtor authority about criminal liability under Article 315 of the Criminal Code for non-enforcement of a judgment. 44. On 23 November 2012 the Governor of the Smolensk Region issued Order no. 1695-р/адм allocating RUB 354,900 for the purchase of a car for the applicant. According to an estimate issued on 18 October 2012 by the Department for Social Development those funds would cover the purchase of a car (a Lada Kalina 11173 (RUB 298,900)) and special hand control equipment (RUB 56,000). 45. On 24 December 2012 the applicant received a Lada 212140 without any special hand control equipment. On 26 December 2012 the enforcement proceedings were closed. 46. The applicant, Mr Anatoliy Arturovich Zakharchenko, was born on 4 September 1966 and lives in Saint Petersburg. 47. The applicant is a military serviceman. On 30 November 2006 the Pushkin Garrison Military Court ordered the Commandant of military unit no. 3526 to provide, as a matter of priority, the applicant and his family with housing in the geographical area of his military service in accordance with the law in force. The judgment became final on 16 December 2006 but was not enforced. 48. After the communication of the present application to the Russian Government on 14 September 2012, the Housing Commission allocated a flat located in the Saint-Petersburg suburbs to the applicant. On 1 October 2012 the applicant was provided with that flat and on 1 February 2013 concluded a social tenancy contract with the authorities. 49. The applicant, Ms Marina Yevgenyevna Troshina, was born on 14 July 1961 and lives in Moscow. 50. On 13 April 2007 the Ostankinskiy District Court of Moscow ordered the Moscow Regional Office of the Federal Real Estate Cadastral Agency (Управление Федерального агентства кадастра объектов недвижимости по Московской области) to consider a request by the applicant dated 29 December 2005 by which she had requested data from the land register in respect of a plot of land located in the village of Polushkino, Odintsovso District, Moscow Region (cadastral no. 50:20:13:7:2:13). The judgment became final on 4 May 2007 and the enforcement proceedings were brought on an unspecified date. However, the enforcement of the judgment was delayed. 51. On 8 February 2010 the Russian Ministry for Economic Development issued Order no. P/41 for the reorganisation of the defendant authority and its incorporation into the Moscow Regional Directorate of the Federal Registration Agency. The relevant powers were later conferred to the Federal State Agency “Cadastral Chamber” for the Moscow Region (Федеральное государственное учреждение «Кадастровая палата» по Московской области - “the Moscow Region Cadastral Chamber”). 52. On 22 March 2011 the Ostankinskiy District Court granted the applicant’s request for clarification on how the enforcement would be carried out. It specified that the judgment had to be executed by the Moscow Regional Directorate for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Управление Федеральной службы государственной регистрации, кадастра и картографии - “the Directorate”) as successor to the respondent authority under the judgment of 13 April 2007. 53. On 30 September 2011 the same court dismissed the Directorate’s request for appointment of the Moscow Cadastral Chamber as successor to the respondent authority under the judgment of 13 April 2007. 54. On 2 December 2011 the Directorate requested the Moscow Cadastral Chamber to provide the data required by the judgment. On 15 December 2011 the latter informed the Directorate that the register contained no information about the plot of land concerned and recommended that the applicant seek its registration by the competent authority of the Odintsovo district. On 23 December 2011 that information was sent to the applicant. 55. On 26 December 2011 the bailiffs closed the enforcement proceedings. On 20 March 2012 the Meshchanskiy District Court of Moscow dismissed the applicant’s complaint against the bailiffs’ decision, considering that the judgment of 13 April 2007 had been fully enforced. 56. The applicant, Ms Natalya Vasilyevna Ilnitskaya, was born on 1 September 1961 and lives in Shikhany, Saratov Region. She is a former member of the Russian army. 57. On 24 November 2008 the Volsk District Court of the Saratov Region upheld her right to a housing voucher. The judgment became final on 9 December 2008 but was only enforced on 15 February 2011 when a housing voucher issued on 24 February 2010 (no. 672764) was processed with a view to purchasing a flat in Volsk, Saratov Region. 58. The applicant, Mr Aleksey Alekseyevich Grinko, was born on 25 July 1978 and lives in Vatutinki, Moscow Region. He is a military serviceman. 59. On 8 December 2006 the Naro-Fominskiy Garrison Military Court ordered the commandant of military unit no. 72064 to grant the applicant priority housing in accordance with the law in force. The judgment became final on 25 December 2006 but was not enforced. 60. The bailiffs brought the enforcement proceedings on 29 June 2009 but their repeated requests to the respondent authorities did not result in any action being taken. 61. On 22 February 2011 the Naro-Fominskiy Garrison Military Court supplemented the judgment, specifying that it had to be enforced by the Housing Department of the Russian Ministry of Defence (Департамент жилищного обеспечения Министерства обороны Российской Федерации – “the Housing Department”). 62. After the communication of the present application to the Russian Government, on 14 May 2012, the competent bailiff addressed the Minister of Defence with a view to bringing the officials responsible to administrative responsibility. 63. On 23 May 2012 the bailiff of the Inter-District Division for Special Enforcement Procedures in Moscow (Межрайонный отдел судебных приставов по особым исполнительным производствам Управления Федеральной службы судебных приставов по Mocкве) warned the head of the Housing Department that she could face criminal liability under Article 315 of the Criminal Code for non-enforcement of a judgment. On 12 June, 12 July and 24 October 2012 the bailiffs again requested the debtor to comply with the judgment. 64. On 22 June 2012 the bailiffs of the Moscow Special Operational Division (Специализированный отдел оперативного дежурства УФССП России по Москве) appeared in person to summon the head of the Housing Department but the latter was not found at her place of residence. 65. On 28 June 2012 the bailiff handed a warning under Article 315 of the Criminal Code in person to the head of the Housing Department at her place of residence but the latter refused to acknowledge receipt. 66. On 6 July 2012 the Odintsovskiy Garrison Military Court found that the allocation of an apartment to the applicant in Balashikha, Moscow Region, had been unlawful. 67. On 10 December 2012 the bailiff suspended the State registration proceedings in respect of 327 apartments in Moscow in order to compel the respondent authority to comply with the judgment. 68. On 28 January 2013 the bailiff again summoned the head of the Housing Department to appear in person in order to explain the reasons for the prolonged non-enforcement of the judgment. 69. According to the latest information received by the Court, the judgment in the applicant’s favour remained unenforced. 70. The applicant, Ms Svetlana Nikolayevna Antonova, was born on 10 September 1959 and lives in Lyubertsy, Moscow Region. She served in the Border Control Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (“the FSB”) and was entitled to housing. 71. On 5 April 2005 the Odintsovo Garrison Military Court ordered the relevant department of the FSB to provide the applicant and her family, as a matter of priority, with housing located in the geographic area of her service in accordance with the law in force. 72. That judgment became final on 22 April 2005 but was only enforced on 16 February 2012 when the applicant concluded a social tenancy agreement with military unit no. 55002 for a flat located in Lyubertsy, Moscow Region. 73. The applicant, Ms Yelena Aleksandrovna Tsvetkova, was born on 12 December 1951 and lives in Kostroma. 74. On 15 December 2008 the Ostrovskiy District Court of the Kostroma Region ordered the local administration to provide the applicant with comfortable social housing in accordance with the sanitary and technical regulations in force and located in Ostrovskoye, Kostroma Region. On 30 December 2008 that judgment became final but its enforcement was delayed. 75. On 1 September 2011 the district court granted the applicant’s application for a change in the method of enforcement and ordered the local administration to pay her RUB 442,368, that is, the market value of the housing to which she was entitled. On 3 October 2011 the judgment was upheld on appeal by the Kostroma Regional Court. The award was paid to the applicant in six instalments between 31 January and 22 March 2012. 76. The six applicants mentioned below applied to the competent Russian courts with claims for compensation for delayed enforcement of the judgments in their favour, relying on Federal Law no. 68-FZ of 30 April 2010, “On Compensation for Violation of the Right to a Trial within a Reasonable Time or the Right to Enforcement of a Judgment within a Reasonable Time” (“the Compensation Act”). 77. The domestic courts consistently found those actions inadmissible. They held that the judgments at issue imposed on the authorities various obligations in kind, while the Compensation Act was only applicable to delayed enforcement of judgments establishing a monetary debt to be recovered from the State budgets. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation confirmed on appeal that the Compensation Act was only applicable to monetary judicial awards. 78. The domestic courts concerned and the dates of their decisions are detailed below. Ms Kostyleva: Supreme Court of the Komi Republic, 30 July 2010 (upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 28 September 2010); Mr Zakharchenko: Leningrad Circuit Military Court, 6 October 2010 (upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court on 2 December 2010); Ms Ilnitskaya: Saratov Regional Court, 4 February 2011 (upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court on 12 April 2011); Mr Grinko: Moscow Circuit Military Court, 26 October 2010 (upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court on 25 January 2011); Ms Antonova: Moscow Circuit Military Court, 29 August 2011; Ms Tsvetkova: Kostroma Regional Court, 21 June 2011 (upheld on appeal by the same court on 27 July 2011). 79. On 31 May 2011 the applicant Ms Kostyleva sued the town administration for failure to comply with the judgments in her favour (see paragraphs 29 and 31 above). Relying on Chapter 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure she asked the Syktyvkar Town Court to acknowledge the administration’s failings to be in breach of both the domestic law and the Convention. 80. On 2 June 2011 the court dismissed the complaint without considering the merits. It specified that such a complaint had to be considered in accordance with a special procedure provided for under Article 441 of the Code of Civil Procedure. 81. On 30 June 2011 the Supreme Court of the Komi Republic granted the applicant’s appeal and quashed the judgment. It found that the applicant’s complaint should have been examined by the lower court under Chapter 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure. 82. On 11 September 2011 the Syktyvkar Town Court reconsidered the applicant’s complaint and granted it in part. With reference to the Convention and the Court’s case-law, the Syktyvkar Town Court found the administration’s failings unlawful and held that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in the applicant’s case. It noted in particular that the first judgment of 2000 had not been enforced for at least eight and a half years, that is, until the delivery of the second judgment in 2009. At the same time the court rejected the applicant’s request that the administration be ordered to comply with the first judgment by 31 December 2011, considering that the building she lived in was unsuitable for renovation and that the second judgment in the applicant’s favour had already ordered the town administration to provide her with other housing. 83. On 7 November 2011 the Supreme Court of the Komi Republic dismissed the administration’s appeal against the judgment of 11 September 2011. 84. On 13 January 2012 the Syktyvkar Town Court partially granted Ms Kostyleva’s civil action against the town administration and awarded her RUB 150,000 in compensation for non-pecuniary damage resulting from the administration’s failure to comply with the first judgment in her favour for at least eight and a half years, that is, until the delivery of the judgment of 20 July 2009. The court relied in particular on Article 151 of the Civil Code in conjunction with Article 13 of the Convention. 85. On 20 February 2012 the applicant brought an appeal against that judgment. She argued that the monetary award had not adequately compensated for the serious non-pecuniary damage she had sustained and was not comparable to the amounts that the Court would have granted in such circumstances (Zolotareva and Others v. Russia, nos. 14667/05 et al., 12 April 2011). 86. The applicant’s complaint was dismissed and the judgment upheld on appeal and cassation on 19 April 2012 and 17 July 2012 respectively.