FIFTH SECTION
CASE OF KLOPCOVS v. LATVIA
(Application no. 26902/13)
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGMENT
 
STRASBOURG
13 February 2020
 
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Klopcovs v. Latvia,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
 Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer, President,
 Síofra O’Leary,
 Lado Chanturia, judges,
and Milan Blaško, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 21 January 2020,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
1. The case originated in an application (no. 26902/13) against the Republic of Latvia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Latvian national, Mr Boriss Klopcovs (“the applicant”), on 11 April 2013. 2. The Latvian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms K. Līce. 3. On 18 December 2013 the Government were given notice of the complaint concerning the length of the proceedings and the remainder of the application was declared inadmissible pursuant to Rule 54 § 3 of the Rules of Court. 4. Written observations were received from the Government and a just satisfaction claim was received from the applicant. THE FACTS
THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
5. The applicant was born in 1951 and lives in Riga. 6. In 2005 the applicant was detained in the Riga Central Prison pending trial. Throughout the months of June, July and August 2005 the Riga Central Prison administration controlled and stopped the applicant’s correspondence addressed to private persons and institutions. 7. On 14 and 25 September 2005 the applicant complained to the Prisons Administration about the actions of the Riga Central Prison administration, controlling and stopping his correspondence, and the reasons for these actions. 8. On 11 October and 24 October 2005 the Prisons Administration rejected the applicant’s complaints. On 4 October and 16 December 2005 the Ministry of Justice found the actions of the Riga Central Prison administration, and the answers given by the Prisons Administration, lawful. 9. On 22 September 2006 the applicant brought proceedings against the Ministry of Justice before the administrative courts. Subsequently the Prisons Administration joined the proceedings. 10. On 21 October 2008 the Administrative District Court found the actions of the Riga Central Prison administration unlawful. However, it rejected the applicant’s claim for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages of 5,406 Latvian lats (LVL) (approximately 7,692 euros (EUR)). 11. On 3 December 2009 the Administrative Regional Court quashed the first-instance court’s decision and remitted the case to the first-instance court. 12. On 27 April 2010 the first-instance court again found that the Riga Central Prison administration’s actions had been unlawful and rejected the applicant’s claim for damages. The applicant appealed against that judgment as regarded the claim for damages; however, the court did not accept his appeal as it was lodged after the expiry of the time-limit. Nevertheless, the opposing parties’ appeals were accepted and appellate proceedings were initiated. 13. On 15 February 2012 the Administrative Regional Court found that the Riga Central Prison administration’s actions had been unlawful in so far as the applicant had not been informed about the reasons for stopping his letters and also that one of the letters had been stopped unlawfully. The remainder of the applicant’s claims were dismissed. 14. On 26 October 2012, in a final decision, the Senate of the Supreme Court, upheld the judgment of the Administrative Regional Court and dismissed the cassation complaints of the Prisons Administration and the applicant who disagreed with the conclusions of the appellate court
15. According to the case materials, none of the ten hearings were postponed due to the applicant’s unjustified absence. Nevertheless, it appears that after the hearing of 22 February 2008 the applicant did not return 77 pages of case documents to the file. On 23 May 2008 the applicant explained to the Administrative District Court that he considered that the documents were given for his personal use and was not aware that they had to be returned. The Administrative District Court was able to reobtain them from another case-file in September 2008. Apparently at least one hearing was adjourned due to this. The applicant also initiated several ancillary proceedings challenging various procedural decisions adopted by the first-instance and appellate courts. THE LAW
ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION
16. The applicant complained that the length of the proceedings had been incompatible with the “reasonable time” requirement, laid down in Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
“In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ..., everyone is entitled to a ... hearing within a reasonable time by ... tribunal ...”
17. The Government contested that argument. AdmissibilityIncompatibility ratione materiae

18. The Government argued that Article 6 was not applicable to the present case under its civil head as the applicant’s claim before the domestic courts was not “pecuniary” in nature. It primarily and substantially concerned the de facto action of the Riga Central Prison administration and, therefore, was undoubtedly in the sphere of public law. Furthermore, the applicant’s claims for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages were only accessory. As he failed to appeal against the judgment of 27 April 2010 in due time (see paragraph 12 above), he did not continue to maintain his claim for damages. 19. The applicant did not respond to the Government’s objections. 20. With regard to procedures instituted in the prison context, the Court has held that some restrictions on prisoners’ rights fall within the sphere of “civil rights”. For example, the Court has found Article 6 to be applicable to a prisoner’s family visits, correspondence or relationships with non-family members and restriction on private meetings with a lawyer (see De Tommaso v. Italy [GC], no. 43395/09, §§ 147-55, 23 February 2017, and Altay v. Turkey (no. 2), no. 11236/09, § 68, 9 April 2019). 21. In the present case, the Court considers that the above line of case‑law can be validly transposed to the circumstances of the present case. The right to respect for the applicant’s correspondence clearly fell within the sphere of personal rights and were civil in nature (compare De Tommaso, cited above, § 154). Accordingly the Court rejects the Government’s objection and finds that Article 6 § 1 is applicable under its civil limb in the instant case. Incompatibility ratione personae and non-exhaustion of the domestic remedies
22. Invoking both incompatibility ratione personae and non-exhaustion of the domestic remedies, the Government argued that the applicant could have lodged a claim with the courts of general jurisdiction on the basis of Article 92 of the Constitution seeking compensation for the alleged violation of his right to trial within a reasonable time. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this remedy the Government submitted a judgment of 11 April 2013 of the Riga Regional Court concerning a civil claim about the length of criminal proceedings (domestic case no. C27200511). In that case the plaintiff was awarded LVL 500 (approximately EUR 711), as following six years of criminal trial the first-instance court had not delivered a judgment. 23. The applicant contested the Government’s objections regarding non-exhaustion of the domestic remedies. 24. In the case of Veiss v. Latvia (no. 15152/12, § 71, 28 January 2014) the Court dismissed a similar argument on the grounds that the Government had failed to submit relevant case-law examples establishing the effectiveness of this remedy under Article 92 of the Constitution for the particular type of claim. The Court notes that the case-law example provided by the Government in the present case was adopted by the appellate court on 11 April 2013 ‑ almost five months after the adoption of the final judgment in the present case. Hence, it cannot be invoked to conclude that the existence of this particular domestic remedy had been sufficiently certain not only in theory but also in practice at the time the relevant proceedings were concluded (compare mutatis mutandis Melnītis v. Latvia, no. 30779/05, §§ 50-53, 28 February 2012). 25. Therefore, the Court rejects the Government’s objection concerning the non-exhaustion of the domestic remedies without further assessing the effectiveness of the domestic remedy invoked. Conclusion
26. The Court notes that this complaint is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention. It further notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible.

Article of the Convention at issue: Article 6
Outcome: violation