We Are Sutyajnik. 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

6. Representing the Interests of Citizens and Organizations in Courts

In 2005 Sutyajnik was involved in litigating over 120 cases. You can become acquainted with them in the new section of our site “Court Cases” (www.sutyajnik.ru/cgi-bin/cases.php), where daily legal work, including prepared documents and judicial decisions, are available.

Some example of successful cases:

Ponyatovsky v. Government. On 14 July 2005, the Russian Constitutional Court decided a landmark case on the right to a fair trial. The Federal Government Order of Execution of Judgments (with the peculiar number 666) was ruled unconstitutional. Essentially, the Court held that an important category of judgments against the Government shall be legally enforced. Prior to this decision, plaintiffs could win the judgment against the Government but had to follow a government order which obliged the applicants to rely on its good will in order for the judgment to be executed.
 

The Government’s newspaper ‘Russian Newspaper’ called the Constitutional Court’s judgment a ‘truly revolutionary’ decision on the right to a fair trial. This is true in many regards, particularly in that it is the first case against the Federal Government ever brought before the Constitutional Court by citizens (and not by state authorities or officials). In addition, this judgment is unique in that the Court applied four European Court of Human Rights judgments (in Article 6(1) and Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms), which is rare in the legal practice of the Russian courts.
 

For more details on the case refer to www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/cases/p_v_gov

The Yekaterinburg City Administration Committee responsible for relationships with NGOs was held under court scrutiny for its refusal to hold a picket. The court ruled that the Committee’s actions were illegal.

See here
 

In July 2005 a Sverlovsk oblast court awarded N. A. Smol’ianinova around 100,000 roubles, collected from the Russian Federation Ministry of Finance, for the death of her son in the hands of officials of the Serov police station.

See here

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