USMANOV v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 3. The Russian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr M. Galperin, Representative of the Russian Government to the European Court of Human Rights. 4. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. I. BACKGROUND 5. The applicant was born in Tajikistan, which at the time was one of the Soviet Republics. He had three brothers and two sisters. 6. In 2001 he married Ms M., who gave birth to their two children, A. and D. They were born in 2001 and 2003 respectively. 7. On an unspecified date in 2007 the applicant, together with his wife and children, went to Russia and settled there. 8. On 7 April 2008 he received a residence permit for a term of three years. 9. On 16 May 2008 he applied to the Novgorod Regional Department of the Federal Migration Service for Russian citizenship under the simplified naturalisation procedure applicable to former citizens of the USSR. In the section of the application form entitled “Close relatives (husband (wife), parents, children, brothers and sisters)” he mentioned his wife, parents, children and a brother. According to the applicant, he did not mention his two other brothers and two sisters because a duty officer had told him that it was not necessary to list all of his relatives. 10. On 15 July 2008 the applicant was granted Russian citizenship. 11. On unspecified dates later the Novgorod Regional Department of the Federal Migration Service granted Russian citizenship to his wife and two children. 12. The applicant and his wife had two more children, N., born in 2009, and S., born in 2016. 13. The applicant worked in the agricultural sector and owned the apartment where he lived with his family. II. ANNULMENT OF THE APPLICANT’S RUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP, HIS PASSPORTS AND THE RELATED COURT PROCEEDINGS A. Proceedings “regarding the establishment of a legal fact” 14. On 28 September 2017 the Novgorod Regional Department of the Ministry of the Interior (“the DMI”, which replaced the Federal Migration Service) applied to the Novgorod District Court of the Novgorod Region (“the District Court”) to have it established as a legal fact that the applicant had submitted false information about his siblings when applying for 2