Case of Lapunov v. Russia, (Application no. 28834/19)

A selection of key paragraphs can be found below the judgment.

117. The foregoing considerations are sufficient to enable the Court to conclude that the investigation into the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment was ineffective, as it was plagued by serious shortcomings, lacked independence and failed to properly take into account and investigate possible discriminatory motives.

118. There has accordingly been a violation of the procedural limb of Article 3 of the Convention.

119. The Court notes that the applicant was subjected to targeted violence solely on account of his sexual orientation (see paragraphs 106 and 107 above), which is an aggravating factor in the national criminal legislation and is characterised as a hate crime in the relevant international material (see paragraphs 62-63 above, and Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 cited in paragraph 66 above). The Court, therefore, concludes that the violation of the applicant’s rights under the substantive limb of Article 3, as found above, was motivated by homophobic attitudes.

128. It has been established that between 16 and 28 March 2017 the applicant was detained by State agents (see paragraphs 107 and 110 above). The applicant’s arbitrary detention had no legal grounds and was not officially acknowledged.