The Public Verdict Human Rights Foundation has prepared a template for appealing court decisions on fines for violating the self-isolation regime during the coronavirus pandemic. The template and instructions how to use it, developed by Yelena Pershakova, the head of the fundamental freedoms practice of the Foundation, are published on the organization's website.
On April 1, two new offences were introduced into Article 6.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (Violation of the Law in the Area of Securing the Sanitary-and-Epidemiological Well-Being of the Population). According to human rights activists, the authorities initiate cases under Part 2 of Article 6.3 very actively (a fine for citizens is from 15 to 40 thousand rubles, for official bodies — from 50 to 150 thousand rubles, for legal bodies — from 200 to 500 thousand rubles or suspension of the activity for up to 90 days).
Courts often consider in their decisions on fines that any person leaving the house violates the sanitary and epidemiological rules; they justify this by the self-isolation regime introduced in many regions. However, not all courts believe that every person away from his house should be punished. Thus, on April 21, 2020, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation specified who could and should have been prosecuted for violating sanitary and epidemiological rules and who had violated the rules of conduct in the current threat of the disease distribution.
There is a high probability because of the Supreme Court’s viewpoint that the second instance (regional, territory, and republic’s) courts will cancel the district courts’ decisions on fines, because punished people include those who did not suffer from coronavirus, did not travel abroad, did not contact people with coronavirus, did not avoid the serious contagion treatment, did not violate the issued requirements of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing.
The high-alert mode amid coronavirus distribution has been introduced in most regions of Russia.
