I correctly predicted that there was a violation of human rights in KOTOV v. RUSSIA and 13 other applications.

Information

• Judgment date: 2008-01-24
• Communication date: 2019-09-19
• Application number(s): 6142/18;51015/18;51020/18;51022/18;51640/18;51685/18;51777/18;52169/18;56764/18;106/19;14282/19;21963/19;21972/19;21976/19
• Country:   RUS
• Relevant ECHR article(s): 8, 8-1
• Conclusion:
  Violation of Art. 6-1
• Result: Violation
SEE FINAL JUDGMENT

JURI Prediction

• Probability: 0.637865
• Prediction: Violation

• Consistent

Communication text used for prediction

The applicants’ personal details and the information concerning their applications, the particulars of the domestic proceedings and other relevant information are set out in the Appendix.
The circumstances of the cases The facts of the cases, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
1.
The background of the cases According to the applicants, they all live in the proximity of “The Aleksinskiy quarry” which is located near the villages of Yasenevo and Novoschapovo in the Klin District of the Moscow Region.
The quarry has been used as a landfill site for deposit of solid waste since 1993 and is currently operated by the waste management company “Kombinat, LLC («OOO Комбинат»), pursuant to land lease agreements with the municipal administration of the town of Klin dating back to 2009.
The applicants allege that about twenty tons of solid waste are brought to the quarry daily in 700 containers and deposited in the landfill site, in violation of the applicable environmental regulations.
The allegedly unlawful operation of the landfill site causes a number of environmental nuisances, such as: strong foul odour, air pollution, contamination of groundwater and circulation of waste particles in the air.
Moreover, the concentration of waste-feeding birds in the landfill site threatens air safety in the area as the military air base (“Klin-5”) is located within three kilometres of the landfill site and in the proximity to the applicants’ houses.
2.
The domestic proceedings (a) Proceedings brought by Mr Kotov (application no.
6142/18) On 11 May 2017 the Klinskiy Town Court of the Moscow Region examined the claim for damages brought by Mr Kotov in connection with the use and operation of the landfill site.
The Town Court found that Mr Kotov did not substantiate with documentary evidence the harm allegedly caused to his health due to the operation of the landfill site.
It further held: “... No evidence was submitted that the plaintiff sustained non-pecuniary damage; the testimony of the witnesses summoned on behalf of the plaintiff as they concern foul odour emanating from the landfill site is their subjective assessments of such odour and do not demonstrate that the plaintiff actually endured any suffering.
The fact that Kombinat, LLC was sanctioned in the administrative proceedings on 7 April 2015 ... and [twice] on 15 July 2015 for failure to register as a waste management company in the state’s registry of landfill sites is not legally binding in the present case ... as Mr Kotov was not a party in either of those proceedings...These administrative judgments also do not show that [Kombinat, LLC] caused air pollution.
The same is evident of the decision of the commercial court of the Moscow Region finding [Kombinat, LLC] liable for doing business operations without a licence.
According to the inspection report by the Ministry of Environment and Nature of the Moscow Region, the level of permitted air pollution during the operation of the landfill site by [Kombinat, LLC] was not exceeded ...” On 12 July 2017 the judgment was upheld on appeal by the Moscow Regional Court.
On 12 October and 27 November 2017, respectively the judgment was also upheld by the Moscow Regional Court and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in the cassation appeal proceedings.
(b) Administrative proceedings in respect of Kombinat, LLC On 4 August 2017 the local customer protection agency, at the request of an unidentified number of the persons affected by the activities of Kombinat, LLC, carried out an inspection of the Aleksinskiy quarry.
Based on the results of this inspection, it found Kombinat, LLC in breach of the environmental regulations and temporarily suspended its activities.
On 13 October 2017 the Klin Town Court of the Moscow Region found Kombinat, LLC liable in the administrative proceedings for breach of the applicable sanitary regulations concerning environment, which, inter alia, included: - failure to establish a sanitary security zone around the quarry (“SSZ”), - insufficient soil supply for intermediary and final stages of waste separation (waste remains uncovered and visible); - leftover waste (mainly plastic rubbish bags) on the boundary of the quarry adjacent to the villages of Naprugovo and Novoschapovo; - absence of gas control systems (which causes increase in air pollution and has an adverse impact on nearby inhabitable territories); - absence of system of collection of leachate (liquid from rotten waste which endangers the quality of soil, underground and surface water); - absence of regular monitoring (once in ten days) of left-over waste (plastic bags, shreds of paper, etc.)
and failure to take respective clean-up measures; - failure to carry out regular cellular morphological and chemical inspection of waste composition; - water control facilities are inaccessible for inspection vehicles.
The Klin Town Court ordered Kombinat LLC to immediately suspend its activities for 90 days.
The court explicitly noted in the operative part of its decision that the lodging of a complaint did not prevent the execution of the administrative sanction ordered by the court.
Nevertheless, on the same day, the Klin Town Court granted the request of Kombinat LLC to suspend execution of the administrative sanction pending the examination of the appeal complaint by the Moscow Regional Court.
One of the applicants, Ms Kotova (application no.
106/19) brought a complaint against the suspended execution of the administrative sanction.
On 8 February 2018 the Moscow Regional Court granted her request and quashed the decision of the Klin Town Court to suspend the execution of the administrative sanction in respect of Kombinat LLC.
3.
The protests brought by the applicants In March 2018 the applicants started organising protests as the landfill site continued to operate even though in March 2018 and February 2014, respectively, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and the Ministry of the Environment of the Moscow Region allegedly announced the closure of the landfill site.
All applicants were charged with various administrative offences in connection with their protests.
The details concerning the charges against them, their arrest, and administrative sanctions imposed on them are outlined in the Appendix.
4.
Mr Kotov’s request to organise a public event and an auto-rally for the protection of the environment (application no.
56764/18) In November 2017 and May 2018, respectively, Mr Kotov submitted notices of a public event (meeting) and a car rally to the Klin municipal administration.
Neither of his applications was approved and he brought his complaint against the municipality to the courts.
The details of these proceedings are outlined in the appendix.