Постановление Европейского суда по правам человека от 29.01.2009 «Дело Ленская (Lenskaya) против России» [англ.]

f the final judgment of 7 April 2003 by the Presidium of the Rostov Regional Court by way of supervisory review did not deprive the applicant of the "right to a court" under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention."
(b) Application to the present case
36. Having regard to the above-mentioned principles, the Court has to ascertain whether on 11 December 2002 the Presidium of the Tomsk Regional Court reopened the proceedings and quashed the enforceable judgment of 15 July 2002, as amended on 12 September 2002, with a view to correcting a fundamental judicial error, and, if so, whether the actual manner in which the Presidium exercised that power undermined the overall fairness of the proceedings at issue.
37. As regards the purpose of the quashing performed by the Presidium of the Regional Court on 11 December 2002, the Court observes that the Presidium found that the district and regional courts had failed to indicate the constituent element of a criminal offence, in that they had not established that the assault had in fact taken place. The courts had also violated the former husband's right to be presumed innocent because in the absence of sufficient evidence they had concluded that he had assaulted the applicant. The Presidium considered that the former husband's guilt had not been proven, and acquitted him. Having regard to that finding, the Presidium held that there was no ground for accepting the applicant's tort action against her former husband and dismissed the compensation claims in full.
38. The Court considers that in such circumstances the Presidium's decision to quash the judgments, flawed as they were with such defects, does not appear unreasonable or arbitrary (see Bratyakin v. Russia (dec.), No. 72776/01, 9 March 2006). After examination of the entire case, including the evidence, the Presidium declared that the lower courts had committed a miscarriage of justice by having subjected the applicant's former husband to an unmerited conviction and by issuing decisions which were prejudicial to and inconsistent with the substantial rights of the convicted person. The Presidium concluded that the District and Regional courts had taken the mistaken judgments as to the existence and effect of matters of fact and the application of the law which had led to the conviction of an innocent person and the imposition on him of the obligation to pay compensation for damage, although it was not proven that he had caused that damage. The Presidium noted the lower courts' ignorance of the important substantive evidence, such as witnesses' statements corroborating the defendant's alibi, their selective and grossly inconsistent approach to the assessment of the circumstantial evidence, the overestimation of the evidential value of the victim's testimony and the defective understanding of the medical reports. The judicial errors committed by the district and regional courts went to the merits of the criminal case and the applicant's cause of action. Those errors vitiated the proceedings and were so grave that, if not rectified, would have resulted in a denial of a fair trial to the applicant's former husband.
39. In this connection, the Court once again reiterates that the Convention in principle permits the reopening of a final judgment to enable the State to correct miscarriages of criminal justice. A verdict ignoring key evidence may well constitute such a miscarriage (see Vedernikova v. Russia, No. 25580/02, § 25, 12 July 2007).
40. The Court observes that the errors committed by the District and Regional courts were sufficient in nature and effect to warrant the reopening of the proceedings. Leaving such errors uncorrected would seriously affect the fairness, integrity and public reputation of the judicial proceedings. The Court also attributes particular weight to the fact that those judicial errors could not be neutralis

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