4
KABLIS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
called on everyone to come to the people’s assembly to prevent similar
situations in future.
14. On the same day the administrator of the Internet site that hosted the
applicant’s blog informed him by email that access to the three blog entries
described in paragraphs 8, 10 and 13 above had been restricted on the order
of the Prosecutor General’s office because they had been found to contain
calls to participate in public events held in breach of the established
procedure.
15. At about 7 p.m. on 25 September 2015 about fifty people gathered
near the Lenin monument. The “people’s assembly” went peacefully and
without any disturbance.
B. Judicial review of the refusal to approve the venue of the “picket”
16. On 26 October 2015 the applicant challenged before the Syktyvkar
Town Court the town administration’s decision of 21 September 2015
refusing to approve the location of the “picket”. He submitted, in particular,
that the “picket” had been intended to take place fifty metres from
Stefanovskaya Square. In any event, it would not have caused any
disturbance or inconvenience. The special designated locations proposed by
the town administration would have been unsuitable.
17. On 18 November 2015 the Syktyvkar Town Court rejected the
applicant’s complaint. After citing Article 11 of the Convention, the
applicable domestic provisions and the Constitutional Court’s decision of
2 April 2009 (see a summary of the domestic law provisions in Lashmankin
and Others, cited above, §§ 255-59), the court held:
“The complainant’s argument that the event would lose its purpose if held at the
locations proposed by [the town administration] is unsubstantiated.
In substance the law requires organisers to make reasonable and sufficient efforts to
reach a compromise on the basis of a balance of interests in order to enjoy the right to
freedom of assembly. In a situation where there is no ban on holding a public event
but rather an alternative location is proposed, the organisers may not reject without
valid reasons the conditions proposed by the authorities for holding the event.
Decree no. 598 of 25 December 2012 by the Komi Republic Government designated
[special locations for holding public events in Syktyvkar], having ensured that they
were in keeping with the aims of public events and accessible by public transport,
permitted the organisers of, and participants in, public events to use public utility
facilities, respected sanitary norms and rules, and guaranteed the safety of the
organisers of, and participants in, public events.
The [town administration’s] decision of 21 September 2015 mentioned those
locations, de facto proposing them as an alternative [to the location chosen by the
applicant].
[The town administration’s] decree no. 9/3483 of 4 September 2013 amended [its]
decree no. 10/4160 of 28 October 2008 on locations (plots of land) where public
events were prohibited. In accordance with the amended decree, it is prohibited to