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II. Alleged violation of Article 8 of the Convention
68. The applicant complained of the control of his correspondence by the prison authorities. According to the applicant, the prison authorities had also interfered with his correspondence with the Court by failing to deliver some of the letters. The Court will examine these complaints under Article 8 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
Article 8 of the Convention
"1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."
A. The parties' submissions
69. The Government submitted that the applicant's allegations had been inaccurate, that his correspondence had not been censored, and that in any event the applicant should have brought proceedings against the prison administration in this connection but had clearly failed to do so. They conceded that Article 91 (2) of the Code of Execution of Sentences provided for censorship of prisoners' correspondence and that the applicant's letters dated 7 September 2001, 20 August 2002 and 14 January 2003 had indeed been censored. According to the Government, this measure had been lawful, had pursued a legitimate aim and had been proportionate and in full compliance with Article 8. They also argued that, as of the date of entry into force of Law No. 161-FZ of 8 December 2003, the censorship of the applicant's correspondence with the Court had ceased and there had thus been no violations of the applicant's rights in this respect.
70. The applicant disagreed and maintained his complaints. He insisted that the prison administration had systematically required him to send the letters in unsealed envelopes, that only on one occasion - on 30 September 2004 - had the letter been dispatched in a sealed envelope and that many letters had been lost or remained undelivered, that the mentioning of "sealed" in the letter log had related to the state in which the letters had been sent out and not the state in which they had been accepted for posting. He referred to the example of the letter of 15 May 2001, which he had handed to the prison administration on the same date and which had not been dispatched until 26 June 2001. He alleged that on 13 April 2004 he had received a letter from the Court and had immediately answered it, but that his reply had not been dispatched by the prison authority until 11 May 2004. As to the Government's non-exhaustion argument, the applicant submitted that it had been impossible to fulfil the requirement in a situation where his entire correspondence had been controlled by the authority.
B. The Court's assessment
71. The Court reiterates that the Government maintained in respect of this part of the application that the applicant had not exhausted available domestic remedies, and that the Court in its decision of 31 May 2007 decided to join this issue to the merits of the case. It will accordingly address this issue when examining the substance of the applicant's complaints under Article 8 of the Convention.
72. The Court will first examine the allegations concerning the prison authorities' failure to dispatch and deliver the applicant's correspondence and then turn to the censorship complaint.
1. Alleged failures of the prison authorities to deliver
and dispatch the applicant's correspondence with the Court
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