Russian authorities failed to protect domestic abuse victim from her partner's cyberviolence – Violation of Art. 8 ECHR

EUROPE: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

European Court of Human Rights, judgment, 14 September 2021, Volodina v. Russia (Application no. 40419/19).

«The case concerned the applicant’s allegation that the Russian authorities had failed to protect her against the repeated cyberviolence of her partner who had created fake profiles in her name, published her intimate photos, tracked her movements and sent her death threats via social media. The Court found in particular that, despite having the legal tools available to prosecute the applicant’s partner, the authorities had not carried out an effective investigation and had not considered at any point in time what could and should have been done to protect the applicant from recurrent online harassment. The authorities had therefore failed to comply with their obligations under Article 8 to protect the applicant from severe abuse. These findings mirror those of a previous judgment concerning the same applicant, Volodina v. Russia (no. 41261/17), in which the European Court held that the Russian authorities’ response to the repeated acts of domestic violence had been manifestly inadequate.»

Direct link to the judgment (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Accès direct au communiqué de presse (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Direct link to the press release (hudoc.echr.coe.int)