The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe called on the Russian authorities to release Alexey Pichugin

March 12, 2021

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe called on the Russian authorities to urgently address violations of the rights of political prisoner Alexey Pichugin and to take measures for his release. The Committe of Ministers

1. recalled that, in its first judgment concerning the applicant the Court found, inter alia, violations of the right to a fair trial under Article 6 § 1 and 3(d) of the Convention on account of the lack of a public hearing and the refusal to allow the defence to put questions to a decisive witness, including in relation to his credibility, and that in the second judgment it found violations of Article 6 § 1, 2 and 3(d) on account of the refusal to admit expert evidence submitted by the defence and a breach of the presumption of innocence due to the publication of media interviews by officials presenting his involvement in the crimes as an established fact;
2. recalled further that the judicial reopening of the domestic criminal proceedings did not provide restitutio in integrumto the applicant, since his convictions were upheld notwithstanding the findings of the European Court, and that the applicant continues to suffer serious negative consequences as the unfair criminal proceedings against him resulted in a life sentence;
3. noted with profound regret that, despite the Committee’s repeated calls since 2016 on the authorities to find alternative avenues to secure full redress for the applicant, no such avenues have been found, and his latest request for a presidential pardon has been denied;
4. underlined that the applicant has been waiting for redress since 2013 and thus exhorted again the authorities to find, as a matter of urgency, alternative avenues to secure redress for the violations of Article 6 found by the Court in these cases, including by considering the adoption of measures to ensure his release, and to inform the Committee of their conclusions by 30 June 2021 at the latest;
5. decided to resume examination of these cases at their 1411^thmeeting (September 2021).

Source: The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe