5.  The first applicant (Ms Muchnik) was born in 1968 and lives in Tomsk. The second applicant (Mr Mordovin) was born in 1956 and lives in Seversk, in the Tomsk Region.
6.  At the end of 2014 the Russian Television and Radio Network informed the private regional television company TV-2 that its contract for broadcast services would be cancelled as of 1 January 2015. At the same time, the Federal Service for the Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Роскомнадзор) did not renew the company’s broadcast licence, which was due to expire on 8 February 2015. As a result, TV-2, one of the leading channels in the Tomsk Region which had been reporting on everyday life in the region since 1990, stopped broadcasting at the beginning of 2015.
7.  According to the first applicant, between 4 and 14 January 2015 she staged nine solo demonstrations to protest against the authorities’ decision to deprive TV-2 of its ability to broadcast. Some other people also staged solo demonstrations on the same dates and at the same time, keeping a 30‑metre distance from each other.
8.  According to the Government, the first applicant, acting together with other persons, held nine “pickets” (пикеты) near two shopping centres in Tomsk between 4 and 14 January 2015, expressing support for TV-2. These “pickets” were held without prior notification being given to local authorities.
9.  On 27 February 2015 an administrative-offence record was compiled in respect of the first applicant. She was accused of organising and participating in group public events held without prior notification being given to the local authority, an offence punishable under Article 20.2 § 2 of the Code of Administrative Offences (hereinafter, “the CAO”). It was considered that, while the applicant and other solo demonstrators had complied with the local requirement to keep a 30-metre distance from each other, there had still been a single event amounting to an “assembly” of several people.
10.  The administrative case file contained a report and an explanatory note from a high-ranking police officer from Tomsk police department. It was stated, in particular, that F. had initiated a number of public assemblies in support of TV-2 from 4 January 2015 onwards, by posting calls for support via social networks. The first applicant had picked up those involved in the solo demonstrations and transported them to the event venues; she had also handed out leaflets to them for distribution. It was stated that she had organised “picketing” over the course of ten days and had enlisted the help of around eighty people. The report comprised several screenshots of Facebook pages showing calls for people to support TV-2 through protests, including a personal page of the applicant. The administrative case file also contained several reports by police officers who had been present on 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 13 January 2015 at the location where the solo demonstrations had taken place. The police officers pointed out that no breaches of the Public Events Act (hereinafter, “the PEA”) had been detected; the demonstrators had kept the minimum 30-metre distance from each other and had not breached public order.
11.  On 3 March 2015 the case against the first applicant was submitted to the Sovetskiy District Court of Tomsk. On the same day, it was assigned to a judge, who set up a hearing for 4.30 p.m. At 1.45 p.m. the judge’s assistant informed the applicant of this by telephone. The judge dismissed an application for the hearing to be adjourned for two days, because such a case had to be examined on the same day it was received by a court. However, the judge gave the applicant an hour to study the file, and when her lawyer appeared some time later he requested only fifteen minutes to study the file. The judge’s assistant later reported that the applicant had not studied the file for the hour which she had been given; instead, she had talked on the phone and chatted with the other people present in the courtroom. The hearing went from 6.09 p.m. to 11.28 p.m., including breaks.
12.  By a judgment of 3 March 2015 the first applicant was convicted under Article 20.2 § 2 of the CAO and sentenced to a fine of 20,000 Russian roubles (RUB – about 287 euros (EUR) at the time). The court relied on the administrative-offence record, reports and an explanatory note by police officers, screenshots of Facebook pages, and written statements by different people outlining the applicant’s role in organising the public events. The court dismissed as unreliable the testimony of F. and the applicant’s husband, who had been questioned at her request.
13.  The first applicant appealed against the judgment to the Tomsk Regional Court. By a decision of 13 April 2015 the appellate court excluded the reference to the applicant being the organiser of the events, but upheld the remainder of the trial judgment.
14.  On 7 September 2015 and 10 February 2016 the Tomsk Regional Court and the Supreme Court of Russia respectively dismissed applications for review lodged by the first applicant.
15.  According to the second applicant, on 6 August 2014 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. he staged a solo demonstration protesting against the persecution of political activists. The officials present at the venue in question did not make any claims during his solo demonstration or after it (see, however, paragraph 17 below). The applicant was not hindered in any way and completed his demonstration.
16.  According to the national authorities and according to the Government’s submissions before the Court, on 6 August 2014 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. the second applicant, acting together with (seven) other persons, organised and held a public event in the form of “picket” near Big City, a shopping centre in Tomsk. Using visual aids, the applicant and other protestors expressed their opinion about the participants in the events of 6 May 2012 in Bolotnaya Square in Moscow, without giving prior notification to the authorities.
17.  On 15 May 2015 the head of the division for the execution of administrative legislation of the Tomsk police department (ОИАЗ УМВД России по городу Томску) compiled an administrative-offence record in respect of the second applicant and notified him of that record. The latter was accused of an offence under Article 20.2 § 2 of the CAO for organising and holding a public event without giving prior notification to the competent authority. It was stated that the participants had had posters and T-shirts with slogans expressing their demand that the political activists be released.
18.  The administrative case file contained notes written by the police which described a video-recording of the “picket” and comprised screenshots of several social media webpages calling for people to participate in the event of 6 August 2014. It also contained two explanatory notes by police officers from the Tomsk police department’s Centre for Combatting Extremism. The notes described monitoring activities carried out in respect of the applicant and other activists, and three public assemblies held by them on 6 June, 6 July and 6 August 2014.
19.  On 15 May 2015 the case file against the applicant was submitted to the Sovetskiy District Court of Tomsk. The applicant, who had not been deprived of his liberty, attended the trial and pleaded not guilty. The trial court heard several witnesses on behalf of the defence. On the same day the district court convicted the second applicant under Article 20.2 § 2 of the CAO and sentenced him to a fine of RUB 20,000 (about EUR 306 at the time). The applicant was not represented by a lawyer at the trial. The court considered that the applicant had conspired with others to hold a static demonstration on 6 August 2014; the applicant had been the event organiser, and he had failed to give the authorities prior notification of the event. The court relied on the administrative-offence record drawn up by the police and on various notes and video-recordings produced by the police. In particular, the court noted that the videos showed the applicant and other participants in the event gathering at the venue; it also showed that during the event they had been standing less than 30 metres from each other and talking. The court dismissed the applicant’s argument that he had staged a solo demonstration, an argument which was supported by the testimony of defence witnesses who had also been participants in the event.
20.  The second applicant lodged an appeal against the above judgment. On 19 June 2015 the Tomsk Regional Court held an appeal hearing and heard the applicant and his lawyer. The appellate court noted that the available evidence did not confirm that the applicant had been the event organiser; however, he had still been a participant in the public assembly, an assembly of which the authorities had not been given notice. The court therefore reclassified his actions, found him guilty under Article 20.2 § 5 of the CAO and reduced the fine to RUB 10,000 (about EUR 165 at the time).
21.  On 30 November 2015 the acting President of the Tomsk Regional Court rejected a further appeal on points of law by the second applicant.