07.10.2011

The publication “Lakatos and Others v. Russia”, 2011

The Anti-discrimination centre Memorial has published materials and documents on the case Lakatos and others v. Russia.

The publication includes the following materials:

– The European Court of Human Rights decision on the complaint No. 32002/10 Anna Lakatosh and Others v. Russia;

– Public monitoring committee’s conclusion on the confinement conditions in the detention centre in St Petersburg and the Leningrad region;

– Transcripts of interviews with the applicants;

– Procedures for appeal of the court’s decisions on the exclusion and placement in detention centres;

– The statement of the Council of Europe High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, on advocay for the rights of people without citizenship or documents.

The applicants of the complaint “Lakatos and Others v. Russia” are Magyar Roma people, Anna Lakatos, Pavel Gabor and Aladar Forkos who arrived in Russia from Ukraine and do not have any identification documents. In September 2009 they were arrested and found guilty of violating the migration regime of the Russian Federation. The court decided to expel them from the territory of Russia. They were placed into the Detention centre for foreigners of St Petersburg and the Leningradskaya region. They were detained there in inhuman conditions for over one year. The arrestees were deprived of effective remedy.

The workers of the ADC Memorial tried to defend the rights of the applicants in Russia, filing appeals to courts and the city prosecutor’s office. After all domestic remedies were exhausted, on May 26, 2010 the ADC Memorial lawyers, Olga Tseitlina and Andrei Petrov, filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights on inhuman treatment and failure to take the necessary measures to expel the arrestees from Russia which caused long detention in the Detention centre for foreigners. Violation of the right to check the legal grounds for detention and lack of remedy (violations of Articles 3, 5.1, 5.4 and 13 of the ECPHRFF) were also appealed.

In the beginning of 2011, a memorandum relating to the complaint, in which Russia admits to the described violations was received. Russia paid compensation in the amount of EUR 30,000.

The publication is available for downloading (in Russian).