The ECHR found the detention of Gannushkina* at the memorial event for Estemirova a violation.

The ECHR awarded compensation to human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina*, who was detained and fined after a picket on the 10th anniversary of Natalia Estemirova's murder.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in July 2020, human rights activists Svetlana Gannushkina and Alexander Cherkasov complained to the ECHR about their detentions during a memorial event on the 10th anniversary of Natalia Estemirova's murder. The protest was peaceful, but security forces detained its participants, and the court heard the case in the absence of the state prosecutor and refused to call witnesses, they stated.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of Svetlana Gannushkina, whose interests were represented in court by lawyers from the Memorial Human Rights Center*.

"In 2019, on the tenth anniversary of the death of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, Svetlana Alekseyevna took to Red Square demanding justice for her murdered colleague. Gannushkina was detained 10 minutes after the start of the protest and then fined 150,000 rubles for 'repeated violation of the rules for holding public events,'" according to a post published on the human rights organization's Telegram channel on November 14.

The ECHR concluded that the Russian authorities violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights: Article 5 (Right to liberty and security of person), 6 (Right to a fair trial), and 11 (Freedom of assembly and association). The court awarded Svetlana Gannushkina 2,500 euros in compensation, the statement noted.

It should be noted that on September 16, 2022, Russia ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the ECHR stated that it retains jurisdiction to consider applications directed against the Russian Federation, provided that they occurred before that date. Previously, on March 16, 2022, in connection with Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe, the ECHR suspended consideration of complaints from Russia. Moreover, cases submitted by Russians to the ECHR by March 16, 2022, must be reviewed, and decisions made before that date must be executed, analysts noted. Human rights activist Natalia Estemirova was kidnapped on July 15, 2009, taken to Ingushetia, and killed. Based on her information about human rights violations in Chechnya, Estemirova's colleagues made inquiries to official bodies and compiled lists of missing persons. You can learn more about the investigation and the main theories surrounding the human rights activist's murder in the Caucasian Knot report "The Murder of Natalia Estemirova".

* are included in the register of foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.