5.  The applicant was born in 1971 and lives in Prague.
6.  In 2004 the applicant arrived in Russia, where in 2005 she married Mr I.P., a Russian citizen, with whom in 2009 she had a daughter, also a Russian national. The applicant and her family lived in St Petersburg.
7.  The applicant lived in Russia on the basis of regularly extended residence permits. On 17 February 2010 the St Petersburg department of the Federal Migration Service (hereinafter “the FMS”) issued the applicant with a five-year residence permit valid until 17 February 2015.
8.  On 15 October 2013 the applicant applied for Russian citizenship.
9.  On 18 March 2014 the St Petersburg department of the Federal Security Service (hereinafter “the FSB”) issued a report stating that the applicant posed a national security threat and that her application should therefore be rejected.
10.  On 28 March 2014 the FMS rejected the applicant’s citizenship application on the grounds that she posed a threat to national security.
11.  On 17 June 2014 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 23 June 2014) the FSB wrote to the FMS recommending that they revoke the applicant’s residence permit.
12.  On 21 July 2014 the FMS revoked the applicant’s residence permit, referring to the FSB’s recommendation. The decision stated, in particular, that in view of information received from the FSB, the applicant’s residence permit must be revoked under section 9(1)(1) of the Federal Law on the Legal Status of Foreigners in the Russian Federation (hereinafter “the Foreigners Act”), which provided that a resident permit issued to a foreign national should be revoked if he or she advocated a radical change in the constitutional order of the Russian Federation or otherwise posed a threat to the security of the Russian Federation or its citizens.
13.  On 5 August 2014 the applicant was informed by FMS that this revocation decision had been taken. No explanation was provided. She was further informed that she had to leave Russia within fifteen days of the decision (that is, no later than 5 August 2014) and would be subjected to deportation should she fail to comply. A foreign national who had been deported or administratively removed from Russia was not allowed to re-enter the country for five years following such deportation or removal (section 27 § 2 of the Law on the Procedure for Entering and Leaving the Russian Federation, no. 114-FZ of 15 August 1996, as amended on 1 April 2014, “the Entry Procedure Act”).
14.  On 23 August 2014 the applicant and her daughter left Russia.
15.  The applicant instituted two sets of proceedings in an attempt to obtain a judicial review of the decision to revoke her residence permit.
16.  On 6 August 2014 the applicant complained before the Frunzenskiy District Court of St Petersburg (hereinafter “the District Court”), alleging that the decision to annul her residence permit had been groundless. It had violated her right to respect for her family life, as it had compelled her to leave Russia where her husband and minor child were living. The applicant urged the District Court to stay the enforcement of the decision until her complaint had been examined.
17.  On 8 August 2014 the District Court refused to stay the enforcement of the decision. The applicant appealed and on 12 November 2014 the St Petersburg City Court (hereinafter “the City Court”) upheld the District Court’s refusal (see paragraph 21 below).
18.  On 14 August 2014 the applicant’s counsel asked the District Court to request a copy of the FSB report of 18 March 2014 (see paragraph 9 above) on which the decision to revoke the residence permit had been based. The request was refused.
19.  On 19 August 2014 the District Court examined the applicant’s complaint concerning the revocation of her residence permit and rejected it. In its decision, the court did not refer to any documents which had served as the basis for the impugned decision, other than mentioning that the measure had been imposed following the FSB’s recommendation of 17 June 2014 (see paragraph 11 above). The court noted that the FMS was the proper authority to impose the measure and that the relevant procedure had been complied with. It emphasised that the factual information which had served as the basis for the decision was not amenable to judicial scrutiny and that the scope of the court’s review was limited to assessing whether the statutory procedure had been complied with. As to whether the measure amounted to an interference with the applicant’s family life, the court noted that it was open to the applicant to obtain a visa so that she could come to Russia to visit her family. The court neither examined the effect of the impugned measure on the applicant’s family life, nor balanced the public and private interests involved, but stated, in particular:
“... given that the residence permit of Ms Gaspar was revoked on the basis of her actions representing a threat to the security of the Russian Federation ... which necessitates taking measures by the Russian Federation for the protection of its interests and those of its citizens, the court believes that when taking the impugned decision, the Federal Migration Service balanced public and private interests.”
20.  The applicant’s counsel appealed against the above-mentioned decision to the City Court, stating, amongst other things, that the District Court had unlawfully refrained from judicial scrutiny of the factual circumstances which had served as the basis for the measure imposed on the applicant. He further stated that no evidence whatsoever had been produced in order to prove that the applicant posed a security threat, and she had been given no opportunity to refute those allegations. Lastly, he argued that the District Court had failed to properly examine the interference with the applicant’s family life and to balance the interests at stake.
21.  On 12 November 2014 the City Court upheld the decision of 19 August 2014, stating that the District Court had duly examined the necessary legal basis for the measure and that its decision had been lawful and reasonable. As for the interference with the applicant’s right to respect for family life, the court stated:
“... the allegations of the applicant’s representative that the implementation of the impugned decision [to revoke the residence permit] would lead to the destruction of the family, cannot serve as the basis for overruling it. These arguments were examined by the court of first instance and were duly rejected.”
22.  On 9 October 2014 the applicant’s counsel challenged the legality of the FSB report of 18 March 2014 and its recommendation of 17 June 2014, claiming that those documents had been the basis for the decision to revoke the residence permit. He asked the courts to get hold of a full copy of the FSB report and other relevant documents in order to examine them at a hearing.
23.  On 10 November 2014 the complaint was forwarded to the City Court, as the domestic regulations stipulated that the courts at regional level were to examine cases involving State secrets.
24.  On 18 December 2014 the City Court examined the complaint in camera. It held that the FSB report and the recommendation had been issued in accordance with the statutory procedure and that they had therefore been lawful. At the hearing, the applicant’s counsel asked the City Court to examine the factual grounds for the decision to exclude the applicant and to urge the FSB to produce evidence showing that the applicant indeed posed a threat to national security. The City Court dismissed the request, stating that as the matter was within the FSB’s exclusive competence, it fell outside of the scope of judicial review and that “the evidence presented to the court did not disclose a violation of the applicant’s rights by the FSB”. In its decision, the court stated, in particular:
“... the allegations of the applicant’s representatives concerning the failure of the representatives of the Federal Security Service to submit proof showing the necessity to send the impugned letter [recommending that the residence permit be revoked] to the Federal Migration Service are unsubstantiated, as the Federal Security Service’s information note on Ms Gaspar as presented to the court does not contain any such information.”
25.  The applicant’s counsel appealed against the above-mentioned decision to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (hereinafter “the Supreme Court”). He alleged, in particular, that the City Court had rejected the complaint without having properly examined its subject matter, as a full copy of the FSB report and other documents on which the revocation had been based had not been furnished at the hearing. Counsel stated that neither he nor the applicant had been given the chance to familiarise themselves with the contents of the FSB report or with any other documents containing details concerning the nature of the applicant’s activity which allegedly posed a risk to national security. Lastly, counsel stated that the decision at issue had disrupted the applicant’s family life. In a separate request, he asked the Supreme Court to retrieve a full copy of the report and the relevant documents.
26.  On 29 April 2015 the Supreme Court examined the appeal in camera and upheld the decision of the City Court. Prior to the hearing, the applicant’s counsel had signed a confidentiality undertaking not to disclose the information examined in the course of the hearing. The FSB provided the court with a copy of its report of 18 March 2014. The Supreme Court perused it and found it lawful. It further held that the information contained in the report was a State secret and that it could not be disclosed. Consequently, the applicant’s counsel was not allowed access to the document, in spite of the confidentiality undertaking. In response to the applicant’s grounds for appeal, the Supreme Court held as follows:
“... the applicant’s argument concerning a violation of her right to respect for private and family life by the [FSB] decision cannot be taken into account, as this decision did not concern the applicant’s entry into the Russian Federation to see her family members who were Russian nationals in Russia ...
... the State has the right to take decisions limiting certain rights of foreign citizens, including the right to request residence permits and the right to request the nationality of that State, in the interests of the public, including that of national security. The [lower] court concluded correctly that the guarantees provided to the applicant by the Russian legislation and international laws had been respected in full.
Therefore, the impugned decision is lawful and substantiated, and the appeal against it does not provide reasons to overrule it ...”
27.  In reply to the Court’s request for the information and documents that served as the basis for the decision to revoke the applicant’s residence permit, including the FSB’s recommendation of 17 June 2014, the Government furnished copies of two documents totalling six pages: the FMS’s decision to reject the applicant’s Russian citizenship application of 28 March 2014 (see paragraph 10 above), and the decision of 21 July 2014 to revoke her residence permit (see paragraph 12 above).