The ECHR ordered Russia to pay compensation to Boris Stomakhin

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the Russian authorities to pay 12.5 thousand euros in compensation to publicist Boris Stomakhin, convicted for publishing articles about the Chechen war on the Kavkaz Center website.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the Russian authorities to pay 12.5 thousand euros in compensation to publicist Boris Stomakhin, convicted under Art. 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremism) and art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting hatred or enmity).

The court in Strasbourg came to the conclusion that in the Stomakhin case there was a violation of Art. 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of expression. However, the ECtHR considered that some of Stomakhin's articles included incitement to violence and justification of terrorism.

We are talking about the first sentence against Boris Stomakhin, handed down in 2006 for articles about the Chechen war on the Kavkaz Center website. Stomakhin was sentenced to five years in prison; he was released in 2011.

The publicist insisted that Art. 6 (right to a fair trial) and Art. 11 (freedom of assembly) of the European Convention.

A year after his release, Stomakhin was again detained on suspicion of violating the same articles, as well as justifying terrorism. In 2015, a Moscow court sentenced him to six and a half years in prison. In the fall of 2017, by decision of the Chusovoy City Court of the Perm Territory, Stomakhin was transferred to a prison in the city of Balashov, Saratov Region.

Sources

• The ECHR awarded the serving publicist Boris Stomakhin 12.5 thousand euros // Mediazone. 2018. May 10.