a convicted prisoner may be inspected. However, a convicted prisoner's correspondence with a court, a prosecutor's office, a public authority supervising detention facilities, a federal or regional ombudsman and the European Court of Human Rights should not be monitored. Convicted prisoners' correspondence with their defence counsel or other persons providing legal advice on legal grounds should not be monitored, except if the prison administration has confirmed information that the correspondence contains information aimed at criminal activity. In such situations the prison administration should issue a reasoned decision on monitoring the correspondence. In addition, under Rule 50 of the Internal Prison Regulations adopted by the Federal Ministry of Justice on 3 November 2005 (decree No. 205), outgoing correspondence should be put in a mailbox or handed over to the prison staff in an unsealed envelope, except if such correspondence is privileged.
37. The Supreme Court of Russia has examined the legality of the above legislation and held that it was aimed at "protecting the rights and legitimate interests of other persons" and did not violate the requirements of Article 8 § 2 of the Convention, which, in turn, referred to "public safety" and "the protection of the rights and freedoms of others". The court also held that the censorship rule was "nothing but" a way of exercising the right and thus could not be a violation of the right to correspondence; in any event, the censorship regime was subject to "constant control and supervision" (see decisions of 13 June and 5 September 2006).
38. On 26 December 2006 the Federal Ministry of Justice adopted Administrative Rules on the examination of detainees' complaints to public authorities (decree No. 383). The Rules provide that stationery and postal costs are to be paid in compliance with federal legislation (Rule 11). Correspondence addressed to a prosecutor, a court or a public authority supervising detention facilities, the federal or regional ombudsman or the European Court of Human Rights should not be inspected. Such correspondence should be dispatched to the addressee within one day in a sealed envelope (Rule 17). Correspondence addressed to other public authorities, non-governmental organisations or defence counsel should be dispatched within three days (Rule 18). Replies to "suggestions, applications and complaints" should be handed over to the detainee within three days of their receipt; the detainee should sign the record; and the correspondence may be included in the detainee's prison file (Rule 19). Since May 2009 such incoming correspondence is read out instead of being handed over to the detainee, and is compulsorily included in the prisoner's file; the detainee may purchase a copy of the correspondence for his personal use. Rule 54 of the Rules provides that in order to ensure the right of petition to the Court the prison administration should inform the detainee of the "procedure for making such applications" and provide him with an application form, the instructions for applications and the European Court's postal address.
39. Under section 20 of the Custody Act, persons detained on remand (suspects and accused) can only correspond through the intermediary of the detention facilities; detainees should pay for their own correspondence. The correspondence is inspected. If the correspondence contains information which may obstruct the criminal proceedings or support a criminal activity, such correspondence should not be dispatched or handed over to the detainee to whom it is addressed. The dispatch of outgoing correspondence or the handing over of incoming correspondence should be carried out within three days or as soon as it has been translated into Russian. If the detainee has left the detention facilities, the correspondence should be forwarded to the new address within three days. Under section 21 o
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