CCPR/C/116/D/1941/2010
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, completed with certain documentation. The
Committee considers that filing requests for supervisory review to the president of a court
directed against court decisions which have entered into force and depend on the
discretionary power of a judge constitute an extraordinary remedy and that the State party
must show that there is a reasonable prospect that such requests would provide an effective
remedy in the circumstances of the case. 2 The State party has not shown, however, whether
and in how many cases a petition to the President of the Supreme Court for supervisory
review procedures were applied successfully in cases concerning the right to a fair trial or
failure to investigate torture. In these circumstances, the Committee considers that it is not
precluded by article 5 (2) (b) of the Optional Protocol from examining the present
communication.
7.6
The Committee further notes that the State party has challenged the admissibility of
the communication for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies on the ground that, on
2 March 2011, a decision was taken to reopen the investigation into the torture allegations
and the case file was sent to the Preobrazhensky Intraregional Investigative Department of
the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for
additional investigation. The Committee, however, observes that no additional information
has been provided by the State party as to the outcome of that investigation. The Committee
recalls its jurisprudence that, for the purposes of article 5 (2)(b) of the Optional Protocol,
domestic remedies must both be effective and available, and must not be unduly
prolonged.3 The Committee observes that in the instant case the investigation was reopened
four and a half years after the alleged torture of the victim and that, to the Committee’s
knowledge, those proceedings have yet to be finalized. Therefore, the Committee considers
that, in the circumstances of the present case, domestic remedies have been unreasonably
prolonged and that article 5 (2) (b) does not preclude it from considering the
communication.4
7.7
The Committee notes that the author claims that there has been a violation of his
rights under article 2 of the Covenant without clarifying the nature of the violation of this
provision. It observes that the provisions of article 2, which lay down general obligations
for States parties, cannot, in isolation, give rise to a claim in a communication under the
Optional Protocol.5 In the absence of any further information on file, the Committee
declares that part of the communication inadmissible pursuant to article 3 of the Optional
Protocol.
7.8
Finally, the Committee considers that the author’s remaining claims raising issues
under articles 7 and 14 (1) and (3) (d) of the Covenant have been sufficiently substantiated
2
3
4
5
6
See communications No. 836/1998, Gelazauskas v. Lithuania, Views adopted on 17 March 2003,
para. 7.4; No. 1851/2008, Sekerko v. Belarus, Views adopted on 28 October 2013, para. 8.3;
Nos. 1919/2009 and 1920/2009, Protsko and Tolchin v. Belarus, Views adopted on 1 November
2013, para. 6.5; No. 1784/2008, Schumilin v. Belarus, Views adopted on 23 July 2012, para. 8.3; and
No. 1814/2008, P. L. v. Belarus, decision of inadmissibility adopted on 26 July 2011, para. 6.2.
See communications No. 2054/2011, Ernazarov v. Kyrgyzstan, Views adopted on 25 March 2015,
para. 8.3; and No. 612/1995, Villafañe Chaparro et al. v. Colombia, Views adopted on 29 July 1997,
paras. 5.2, 8.8 and 10.
See Ernazarov v. Kyrgyzstan, para. 8.3; communications No. 1560/2007, Marcellana and Gumanoy
v. Philippines, Views adopted on 30 October 2008, para. 6.2; No. 1250/2004, Rajapakse v. Sri Lanka,
Views adopted on 14 July 2006, paras. 6.1 and 6.2; and No. 992/2001, Bousroual v. Algeria, Views
adopted on 30 March 2006, para. 8.3.
See, inter alia, communications No. 316/1988, C. E. A. v. Finland, decision of inadmissibility adopted
on 10 July 1991, para. 6.2; No. 802/1998, Rogerson v. Australia, Views adopted on 3 April 2002; and
No. 1213/2003, Sastre Rodríguez et al v. Spain, decision of inadmissibility adopted on 28 March
2007, para. 6.6.