5.  The applicants were born in 1965 and 1966 respectively and live in Moscow.
6.  The applicant, who was one of the indirect beneficial owners of a company, arranged for it to be sold to another company. On 1 October 2013 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of fraud through the execution of a sham sales contract. It was alleged, in particular, that the company purchasing the applicant’s company also belonged to the applicant and the price it paid had been unrealistically low. On 3 October 2013 the Taganskiy District Court of Moscow (“the Taganskiy District Court”) held a hearing to determine a preventive measure in respect of the applicant. The latter argued that he should not be detained by reliance on Article 108 § 1.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCrP”), which prohibits the remanding in custody of people suspected or accused of offences committed within the sphere of their business activities. The Taganskiy District Court dismissed that argument in the following terms:
“... [the applicant] is suspected of having committed a serious offence aimed at making a profit which was unconnected to any business activity and had been organised by a group of people; [the offence being] punishable with up to ten years’ imprisonment, some of the accomplices have not yet been identified and arrested.”
7.  On 21 October 2013 the Moscow City Court upheld the detention order.
8.  On 28 November 2013 and 27 January 2014 the Taganskiy District Court extended the applicant’s detention, repeating its previous findings. On 27 December 2013 and 18 April 2014 respectively the Moscow City Court upheld the above detention extensions on appeal.
9.  On 28 March 2014 the Ostankinskiy District Court of Moscow (“the Ostankinskiy District Court”) further extended the applicant’s detention. As regards Article 108 § 1.1 of the CCrP, the District Court stated as follows:
“The court dismisses the arguments of the defence and of [the applicant] himself that the offence of which he is accused was committed within the sphere of his business activity because, according to the current bill of indictment, he is accused of having committed an offence motivated by profit with the aim of misappropriating another’s property by way of deception or abuse of trust, using an organised group, and on a particularly large scale. The court therefore concludes that the offence imputed to [the applicant] was not connected to the carrying out of a business activity, which is an independent activity undertaken at one’s own risk with the aim of obtaining regular revenues from the use of possessions, the sale of goods, or the performance of works or services by people registered in such a capacity in accordance with the law.”
10.  On 14 May 2014 the Moscow City Court upheld on appeal the detention extension order of 28 March 2014. It held that the first-instance court had examined and dismissed with proper substantiation the applicant’s argument that his alleged offence had been committed within the sphere of his business activity.
11.  On 10 April 2015 the Moscow City Court granted bail to the applicant. Upon deposit of the bail sum on 17 April 2015 the applicant was released.
12.  On 15 September 2014 a criminal investigation was opened into the misappropriation of the funds of an insolvent bank. On 23 September 2014 the applicant, who owned the bank, was arrested on suspicion of having transferred money out of the bank’s account by acquiring unsecured promissory notes.
13.  On 25 September 2014 the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow (“the Tverskoy District Court”) authorised the applicant’s detention. The applicant argued that he should not be detained, inter alia, because he was suspected of an offence committed within the sphere of his business activity. The Tverskoy District Court rejected the argument as follows:
“... the court takes the view that, as can be seen from the evidence in the case, the method and circumstances described in the decision to initiate the criminal investigation, and the actions of [the applicant] in misappropriating the funds in this case are not related to [a business] activity as defined in Article 2 § 1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation”.
14.  On 10 November 2014 the Moscow City Court upheld the detention order on appeal. The Moscow City Court dismissed the applicant’s argument that his alleged offences had been committed within the sphere of his business activity. In particular, the Moscow City Court held as follows:
“... the action of committing an offence by using another’s funds and taking on obligations to the Bank’s clients without any intention to comply with them, cannot be considered to be a business activity.”