The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favor of Muscovite Nikolai Glukhin, recognizing his right to private life and freedom of expression as a result of the use of the Moscow system of recognition of persons. According to the official website of the court, this decision was recently published.
Last year, on August 23, 2019, Glukhin was seen in the subway holding a cardboard figure of activist Konstantin Kotov, who had been convicted under Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, also known as the Dadinsky article. The figure had a poster with a provocative inscription. A week later, the authorities attempted to locate Glukhin at his home using photos from Telegram channels, but he was not there. However, he was subsequently detained at the subway exit.
The police issued Glukhin a violation of the rally rules protocol, claiming that he had been identified through the person recognition system installed on surveillance cameras. In September 2019, the Meshchansky District Court fined Glukhin 20,000 rubles. Although Glukhin appealed this decision, it remained in effect.
In its recent ruling, the ECHR emphasized that the real-time use of the recognition system to search for Glukhin violated his rights to private life and freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court concluded that the actions of law enforcement agencies did not meet a “pressing public need.” Consequently, Glukhin was awarded a compensation of 16,200 euros.