ECtHR awards compensation to activists from Southern Russia

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has awarded compensations to the following activists from Rostov-on-Don: Olesya Bakhtiyarova, Konstantin Maklyak and Maxim Murugin; to activists from Volgograd, Vladimir Lygin and Vladimir Doronin; and Oleg Ivanov, an activist from Stavropol. The ECtHR has concluded that all of them had been illegally arrested after taking part in protests against the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine and in support of Alexei Navalny*.

As reported by the "OVD-Info"** project, the ECtHR had examined cases of persecution of activists in Southern Russia under the general case "Doronin et al versus Russia".

On March 6, 2022, in Rostov-on-Don, during a pacifist action, Olesya Bakhtiyarova, a local resident, was detained; the court arrested her for 15 days, finding her guilty of disobeying the police. Olesya claimed that the case was falsified. The ECtHR has concluded that Bakhtiyarova was detained illegally and had no chances to appeal against her arrest and awarded her compensation of EUR 5000.

After the pacifist action held in Rostov-on-Don on March 6, 2022, Konstantin Maklyak and Maxim Murugin were also arrested for 15 days for disobedience to the police. The ECtHR awarded them compensation of EUR 5000 each.

The ECtHR has also found the detentions of Vladimir Lygin and Vladimir Doronin in January 2021 in Volgograd during an action in support of Alexei Navalny* as unjustified and awarded compensations of EUR 4000 to each of them.

The ECtHR has also awarded compensation of EUR 4000 to Oleg Ivanov, a Stavropol resident, recognizing that he was illegally fined after taking part in an action in support of Navalny* held on January 31, 2021.

*Navalny's offices are recognized as extremist organizations and banned in Russia. Alexei Navalny is a founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (known as FBK), an NCO that is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of NCOs performing functions of a foreign agent. The NCO is also recognized by a court as extremist and banned in the territory of Russia.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.