BALANINA v. RUSSIA
Inadmissible
Branko Lubarda;Dmitry Dedov;Georgios A. Serghides;Helen Keller;Helena Jäderblom
1. The applicant, Ms Larisa Dmitiryevna Balanina, is a Russian national, who was born in 1963 and lives in the village of Rassvet in the Krasnodar Region. She was represented before the Court by Mr A. Ivanov, a lawyer practising in Krasnodar. 3. The applicant is the mother of Ms Sofia Zubkova. 4. Ms Zubkova was detained in remand prison no. IZ-1 in the Krasnodar Region from 6 December 2013. On 24 December 2014 she was transferred to the Krasnodar City Clinical Emergency Hospital (hereinafter “the Krasnodar Hospital”) on account of a suspected acute drug poisoning. On the next day she died. The death certificate of 29 December 2014 listed double pneumonia as the cause of death. 5. Investigating authorities examined ex officio the circumstances of the death and on 24 January 2015 refused to open a criminal investigation. 6. On 15 October 2015 the applicant asked the Krasnodar Hospital to provide her with her daughter’s medical files and to answer the following questions: “Did Ms Svetlana Zubkova contract any illness during her stay in [the remand prison] or did her existing diseases exacerbate? What medical institutions ... was Ms Zubkova transferred to for the examination and treatment? Was Ms Zubkova diagnosed with HIV, tuberculosis or any other contagious disease? If so, which institution and when?” 7. On 30 October 2015 the applicant’s request was dismissed. The Krasnodar Hospital replied that her daughter’s medical information remained confidential even after her death. In the absence of her daughter’s prior authorisation the applicant only had a right to receive the death certificate. According to relevant domestic law provisions access to information requested by the applicant could be provided under limited conditions to investigators, courts or public prosecutors. 8. The applicant challenged that decision in court under the Code of Administrative Procedure. 9. On 25 January 2016 the Pervomayskiy District Court of Krasnodar upheld the decision of the Krasnodar Hospital and endorsed its reasoning. 10. On 12 May 2016 the Krasnodar Regional Court dismissed the applicant appeal. On 6 July 2016 the applicant lodged her application with the Court. Only subsequent to that, on 21 July 2016, she filed a first tier cassation appeal, which was dismissed by the Krasnodar Regional Court on 28 July 2016. 11. On 11 April 2017 the applicant’s lawyer, at the request of the Registry, informed the Court that he had decided not to submit a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court for “it was not an effective remedy”. 12. Relevant domestic law provisions have been summarised by the Court in the case of Chigirinova v. Russia (dec.), no. 28448/16, §§ 8-26, 13 December 2016.