FOURTH SECTION      CASE OF CHUMAK v. UKRAINE (Application no. 44529/09)       JUDGMENT  STRASBOURG  6 March 2018  FINAL 06/06/2018 This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Chumak v. Ukraine,The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Vincent A. De Gaetano, President, Ganna Yudkivska, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Iulia Motoc, Georges Ravarani, Marko Bošnjak, Péter Paczolay, judges,and Marialena Tsirli, Section Registrar,Having deliberated in private on 13 February 2018,Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:PROCEDURE1. The case originated in an application (no. 44529/09) against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Ukrainian national, Mr Sergiy Viktorovych Chumak (“the applicant”), on 30 July 2009.2. The applicant was represented by Mr V. Ivashchenko, a lawyer practising in Vinnytsya. The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, most recently, Mr I. Lischyna.3. The applicant alleged, in particular, that a court decision ordering dispersal of a “picket” (пікет) he had organised and prohibiting further pickets being held by the Association of which he was the chairman had been unlawful and unfair and that no effective remedies had been available for this complaint.4. On 29 October 2015 the applicant’s complaints under Articles 11 and 13 of the Convention were communicated to the Government and the remainder of the application was declared inadmissible pursuant to Rule 54 § 3 of the Rules of Court.THE FACTSI. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE5. The applicant was born in 1968 and lives in Stryzhavka.6. On 12 September 2006 the applicant submitted a written notice to the mayor of Vinnytsia informing him that the Chumatskyy Shlyakh civic youth association (“the Association”) registered in Vinnytsia, of which he was chairman, intended to hold a picket (пікет) outside the Vinnytsia Regional Authority (“the regional authority”) building. The notice read as follows:“We inform you that, starting from 14 September 2006 our organisation will hold a picket [in front] of the [regional authority] for an indefinite term in view of the unhealthy, in our view, social and economic state of affairs in the region.Beginning of the picket: 14 September 2005 at 14:00.Place: square in front of the [regional authority] building;Responsible person according to the decision of the Association’s management: Chumak S.V. [the applicant].Chairman of the [Association] Chumak, Sergiy Viktorovych.”7. According to the Government, the Association’s officially registered chairman at the material time was a certain Igor Viktorovyh Chumak. The applicant was neither the chairman, nor could he even be a member of the Association because according to the Association’s charter, membership was open to persons under the age of twenty-eight. At the time of the relevant events the applicant was older.8. On 13 September 2006 the mayor’s office forwarded the applicant’s notice to the police, requesting that they maintain public order during the demonstration.9. On 14 September 2006 the Association started the picket as intended. According to the applicant, several other local groups joined the action and two small camping tents (measuring 2 by 2 metres) were erected by the walls of the regional authority building on a 15-metre wide street for storing handout materials and displaying the protesters’ slogans.10. On 15 September 2006 the executive committee of Vinnytsia City Council instituted administrative proceedings seeking “to enjoin the [Association] not to organise and carry out pickets on the streets and squares of Vinnytsia and to oblige it to uninstall the unlawfully erected ‘small architectural structures’ (малі архітектурні форми).” The plaintiff alleged that the protesters had been breaching the peace and public order by offending passers-by, acting arrogantly towards them, obstructing the traffic and pedestrians and endangering the lives and health of local residents. Referring to Article 182 of the Code of Administrative Justice (“the CAJ”, see paragraph 20 below), which provided for the lodging of an action before the start of a picket, the plaintiff asked the court to admit its action for consideration out-of-time on the grounds that only after the picket had started had it become apparent that the protesters intended to engage in inappropriate conduct. The statement of claim was supplemented with applications by V.Ch. and Y.S., two passers-by, addressed to the police, in which they complained that the protesters had “acted arrogantly”, had offended their feelings and had erected tents obstructing pedestrians and spoiling the street aesthetics.11. On the same date the Leninskiy District Court in Vinnytsia (“the District Court”) held a hearing at which the applicant, representing the Association, denied the allegations that the picketers had engaged in any inappropriate conduct. According to him, during the hearing he had unsuccessfully made several requests for the production of evidence. Notably, he had requested that V.Ch., Y.S. and the police officers present at the site of the picket be summoned for questioning; that the police authorities be asked whether any incidents of unlawful conduct by the picketers had been documented; and that the site be inspected in order to determine whether, in fact, the camping tents mounted by the picketers had obstructed the traffic or the passage of pedestrians.12. Later on the same date, the District Court allowed the claim, having decided that the case file contained sufficient evidence that the protesters had behaved inappropriately. The relevant part of the judgment read as follows:“... [the] executive committee ... did not and could not have known about a possible breach of public order by the participants of the event, which fact resulted in missing the time-limit for lodging a court action as required by paragraph 1 of Article 182 of the Code of Administrative Justice of Ukraine; the court therefore resets the procedural time-limit ...The court, when deciding the case, takes into account that the participants in the event installed small architectural edifices on the pavement. In addition, during the event, they acted arrogantly, thus offending other citizens, obstructed the passage of pedestrians along Soborna street, and endangered road users, a fact confirmed by the complaints from Y.S. and V.Ch.In addition, the court has regard to the fact that in the notice of the event it is stated that it will be held indefinitely. Also the number of protesters is not defined ... and it may gradually increase.

Outcome for Article 11: violation