ECHR awards Syktyvkar human rights defender for detention during a single picket of 2011

According to the Foundation "Public Verdict", the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) awarded compensation of 3 thousand euros to human rights defender Viktor Torlopov. He was detained during a single picket in Syktyvkar in the fall of 2011.

Judges of the ECHR upheld Torlopov's claim: he was detained by force at the building of the Komi prosecutor's office. It was a single picket against the ban of public actions within a radius of 150 meters from the courts.

"First of all, it was done to prohibit protest actions on the main (Stefanovskaya) Syktyvkar square with the head residence and the regional parliament. Constitutional Court is located on the eighth floor of the parliament since May 8, 2011," the human rights activist Ernest Mezak explains.

European judges disagreed on the amount of his compensation. Three out of seven believed that it should be 5 thousand euros, not 3. The entire board of judges was sure that his detention was illegal. The lawyers of the Public Verdict Foundation referred to the explanation of the Constitutional Court: it allowed to organize public actions in places that do not interfere with the work of the courts.

In the fall of 2011, Syktyvkar civil activists protested against the ban on rallies. It was imposed by the head of the Syktyvkar administration. He banned public actions within a radius of 150 meters from the entrance to the judiciary.

Viktor Torlopov was detained on October 10, 2011; he was knocked down to the ground and got a brain concussion. In December 2011, he was fined 500 rubles for this picket. In 2013, the Komi Supreme Court acquitted Torlopov, but he was not awarded compensation.

The ban on public actions near the courts is still in force in Komi.

Daniil Kuznetsov, «7x7»

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