EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
FIFTH SECTION
CASE OF GULTYAYEVA v. RUSSIA
(Application No. 67413/01)
JUDGMENT <*>
(Strasbourg, 1.IV.2010)
--------------------------------
<*> This judgment will become final in the circumstances set out in Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Gultyayeva v. Russia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:
Peer Lorenzen, President,
Renate Jaeger,
Karel Jungwiert,
Rait Maruste,
Anatoly Kovler,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Claudia Westerdiek, Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 9 March 2010,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (No. 67413/01) against the Russian Federation lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("the Convention") by a Russian national, Ms Nina Ivanovna Gultyayeva ("the applicant"), on 4 October 2000.
2. The applicant was represented by lawyers of the Memorial Human Rights Centre (Moscow) and the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (London). The Russian Government ("the Government") were represented by Mr P. Laptev and Ms V. Milinchuk, former Representatives of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights.
3. The applicant alleged, in particular, that the conditions of her pre-trial detention had amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment prohibited by Article 3 of the Convention, that her detention pending trial in the period between 25 October and 4 November 2000 had been unlawful in breach of Article 5 § 1 (c) of the Convention and that her pre-trial detention had been excessively long in violation of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention.
4. On 21 September 2004 the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. On 13 June 2007 the Court further invited the parties to submit additional observations as regards the applicant's complaint under Article 3 concerning the period of her detention between 28 February and 29 March 2000. On the same date it was also decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility (Article 29 § 3).
THE FACTS
I. The circumstances of the case
5. The applicant was born in 1951 and lives in Moscow.
A. The applicant's detention
1. The applicant's arrest and her detention between
28 February and 2 March 2000
6. At the material time the applicant held the position of Head of the Department of Justice of the Sakhalin Region (начальник Управления юстиции Сахалинской области).
7. On an unspecified date an external audit commenced in the said Department and embezzlement of budgetary assets was subsequently established.
8. On 25 February 2000 criminal proceedings were instituted in this connection.
9. On 28 February 2000 at 8 a.m. the applicant retained a lawyer.
10. On 28 February 2000 at 8:30 a.m. the applicant was arrested and placed in custody. Being questioned as a suspect in the case, the applicant availed herself of the right to remain silent and applied for release on bail or subject to personal surety.
11. On 29 February 2000 the investigator in charge refused to release the applicant, stating that, according to Article 101 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, "a measure of restraint could only be changed in the circumstances when it was no longer neede
> 1 2 3 ... 24 25 26