The ECHR found violations in the case of Tikhonov and Khasis

On February 16, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recognized the trial of Nikita Tikhonov and Evgenia Khasis as unfair.

The ECtHR considered that the jurors were biased in reaching their verdict.

However, Strasbourg did not award compensation to the applicants.

Tikhonov's sentence for the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova is subject to review in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation after the entry into force of the ECHR decision.

Recall that in May 2011, in the case of the murder of Markelov and the Baburov court sentenced Tikhonov to life imprisonment, and Khasis to 18 years of the colony.

Tikhonov and Khasis went to court in accordance with Art. 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms on February 15 and March 10, 2012, respectively. They complained about the violation of paragraphs 1 and 2 of Art. 6 of the Convention guaranteeing the right to fair trial and respect for the presumption of innocence.

In his complaint, they drew attention, among other things, to the possible lack of impartiality jurors who heard the case, referring to an interview with one of the former members of the panel Anna Dobracheva, who recused herself and refused to participate in the hearings. IN collegium allegedly were people who put pressure on the rest, some of the jurors were former law enforcement officers, and jurors no. one and four from the very beginning of the process carried out propaganda work in the collegium. “Every morning, number one would read to us in the conference room from the media, he even read out what happened in court and what we were not supposed to know about. Every he accompanied the article with comments, trying to arouse in us a negative attitude towards to the defendants. In addition, number four approached the employee in front of my eyes. court, put her arms around him and said: "Don't worry, we will issue an indictment verdict". To my remarks, they say, you do not have the right to do this, nor the number one, nor number four did not react, ”Dobracheva claimed.

In a different interview she talked about a member of the panel who informed other jurors compromising information about Tikhonov and Khasis (for example, about tattoos Tikhonov - Nazi symbols), and this information was not available in the open Internet access. After the release of these interviews, the defendants demanded a challenge jurors who were suspected of pressure on colleagues, but the court refused.

Thus, the ECtHR decided, violated the principle that jurors should not consider no evidence, arguments and information about the accused, except for those about which learned in the courtroom.

Judge from Russia Dmitry Dedov voted against and delivered a dissenting opinion. The representative of Russia, objecting to the arguments of the complaint of Tikhonov and Khasis, said that he considered the speech Premarital provocation by the defense side, and drew attention to the fact that at the moment appearances in the press, Dobracheva was no longer a member of the jury and her statements had no legal force.

In 2014, Tikhonov became a defendant in another criminal case - about the neo-Nazi group BORN (Combat organization of Russian nationalists). During the investigation, he pleaded guilty to the creation of BORN, illegal arms trafficking and committing more murders. The court sentenced him to 18 years in prison. freedom. Khasis was not charged with participation in BORN, therefore She served as a prosecution witness in the case.

Sources

• CASE OF TIKHONOV AND KHASIS v. RUSSIA // European court of human rights. 2021. February 16..