CASE OF GRUZDA v. RUSSIA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Criminal proceedings;Article 6-1 - Fair hearing)
Alena Poláčková;Helen Keller;Johannes Silvis
4. The applicant was born in 1974 and lives in Krasnodar. 5. On 24 March 2009 the Military Court of Novorossiysk Garrison (Новороссийский гарнизонный военный суд) convicted the applicant of laundering of the proceeds of crime and sentenced him to a fine. 6. On 21 May 2009 the Military Court of the North-Caucasian Command (Северо-Кавказский окружной военный суд) acquitted the applicant on appeal. 7. On 21 July 2009 the Presidium of the Military Court of the NorthCaucasian Command, on a public prosecutor’s initiative, annulled the judgment of 21 May 2009 by way of supervisory review and remitted the case for fresh consideration to the appeal court. The annulment was reasoned by two main arguments: (1) unresolved contradictions between witnesses’ statements pertaining to the applicant’s criminal intent, and (2) absence in the appeal judgment of a summary of the arguments presented by the prosecution during the appeal proceedings. 8. On 6 August 2009 the Military Court of the North-Caucasian Command, acting on appeal, reversed the judgment of 24 March 2009 and remitted the case for fresh consideration to the trial court. 9. In 2010 the criminal proceedings against the applicant were terminated due to decriminalization of his actions under the domestic law.