The ecology of Lipetsk was checked according to the Strasbourg account
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) awarded 22 applicants from Lipetsk compensation in the amount of €55,000 for poor environmental conditions in the city. The complaint against the state, which, according to the applicants, did not take measures to protect the environment from harmful emissions from industrial enterprises, was filed back in 2009, and was communicated only in 2019. The Strasbourg court agreed that before the beginning of the last decade, the actions of the authorities were insufficient, but after the situation improved.
The Strasbourg court on Tuesday published a decision on the complaint of 22 residents of Lipetsk, whose houses are located near industrial enterprises, including metallurgical and cement plants. In 2009, they filed a lawsuit with the Sovetsky District Court of Lipetsk against fourteen federal and regional state institutions demanding moral compensation. The plaintiffs argued that officials are not taking steps to improve the environmental situation in the city. In particular, residents pointed out that the concentration of harmful substances in the air and drinking water in Lipetsk constantly exceeded the maximum permissible levels, and that sanitary protection zones were not created around the city’s industrial enterprises.
The plaintiffs cited a violation of Art. 8 of the European Convention on the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence. The District Court dismissed their claims, stating that the authorities had not neglected environmental protection measures. From 1998 to 2008, the decision said, municipal and regional authorities regularly conducted scheduled and unscheduled assessments of the state of atmospheric air, water and polluting industrial activities, as well as imposed fines, issued warnings and initiated administrative proceedings in case of violations. After that, the residents applied to the ECtHR, their complaint was communicated only in 2019.
Each of the applicants claimed between €41,000 and €75,000 in non-pecuniary damages, referring, among other things, to a 2007 report by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, which stated that “Lipetsk is one of the cities with the highest air pollution caused by the presence formaldehyde, benzopyrene, phenol and nitrogen dioxide in the air. In 2001, excess amounts of nitrogen dioxide, iron, copper and phenol were found in operational wastewater, according to the agency.
The ECtHR acknowledged that industrial air pollution and the authorities’ failure to regulate industrial operations between 1998 and 2013 had a negative impact on the applicants’ right to respect for their private lives, which cannot be compensated for by a mere finding of a violation. The amounts claimed by them, according to the Strasbourg Court, are excessive. As a result, the ECtHR awarded each of them €2.5 thousand and €10 in compensation for expenses.
Ilya Sivoldaev, a human rights activist from Voronezh, says the ECtHR had previously found similar violations for a Cherepovets resident in 2005 following a 2000 complaint. The lawyer notes that the new regulation is more detailed: it analyzes the positive results of protecting residents from excessive industrial air pollution. For example, the ECtHR notes “with satisfaction” that after 2017, within the framework of federal and regional programs, local enterprises technically improved their facilities, and the air monitoring system in Lipetsk and its region was upgraded to provide more accurate and complete emissions measurements. “The Court finds significant an increase in the funds allocated by the state to support environmental programs in Lipetsk, from an average of €4 million per year in 2002-2018 to about €37 million per year in 2018-2024. Without a doubt, this should strengthen the implementation of relevant measures and contribute to further effective management of air quality and the environmental situation in Lipetsk,” the resolution says.
According to the law adopted in June 2022 by the State Duma, decisions of the ECtHR that entered into force after March 15, 2022 are not subject to execution. This is due to the termination of Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe. Payments for decisions that were made before March 15, the Prosecutor General’s Office can make until January 1, 2023, but only in rubles. According to human rights activists, the Russians, on whose complaints the ECHR decided after the specified date, have already begun to receive refusals from the Prosecutor General’s Office to pay compensation. “The ruling of October 11, 2022 is not enforceable in Russia,” admits Yury Fedyukin, managing partner of Enterprise Legal Solutions. “Based on the circumstances, plaintiffs need to look for other ways to protect their interests, for example, apply to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation or the UN Human Rights Committee” .
The ECtHR studied the garbage near Moscow
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has awarded €40,000 to activists who oppose the Aleksinsky Quarry landfill, 4 km from Klin near Moscow.
The Aleksinsky Quarry polygon was opened in 1993, now it is operated by Kombinat LLC. Initially, garbage from the Klinsky district was accepted there, but since 2013, waste from Moscow has been brought to the landfill (see Kommersant dated April 7, 2018). In the summer of 2016, residents of Klin and nearby villages began to smell an unpleasant smell – and since then, residents have periodically taken to rallies demanding that the landfill be closed. Ten residents of Klin appealed to the ECtHR: they indicated that the operation of the landfill violated the right to respect for their private and family life. In addition, they complained about the “lack of effective domestic remedies” (see Kommersant of October 29, 2019). Residents also complained about the restriction of freedom of peaceful assembly – after all, they were fined for organizing rallies or participating in them.
The court held that there had been a violation of Art. 8 of the Convention on Human Rights (right to respect for private life and home). According to the ECHR, for some time the landfill worked with violations, which “would not have been possible without some omissions on the part of the authorities.” In addition, the court held that there had been a violation of Art. 11 conventions (freedom of assembly).
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