ECHR judgment of 18 June 2019 in the case of “Canter and Magaleas v. Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation” (applications N 3060/07 and 45533/09).
In 2007 and 2009, the applicants were assisted in preparing applications. Subsequently, the applications were combined and communicated to the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation.
The case has successfully examined applications about the criminal cases of the applicants by the courts, which cannot be regarded as “independent courts established by law”, and that these courts did not ensure a fair trial of the applicants. The case has violated article 6, paragraph 1, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (right to a fair trial).
In their applications, the applicants complained that their criminal cases had been examined by the courts, which could not be considered as “independent courts established by law”, and that these courts had not ensured a fair trial in their cases.
On June 18, 2019, in response to applications by the applicants, the Court unanimously ruled that in the present case the Russian authorities violated the requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (right to a fair trial) and ordered the Russian authorities to pay 6,000 euros to each of the applicants as compensation for non-pecuniary damage and EUR 4,080 as compensation for legal costs and expenses. The European Court unanimously decided that the authorities of the Republic of Moldova did not commit a violation of any provision of the Convention.