2
KIM v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
A. Expulsion proceedings
6. On 19 July 2011 the police stopped the applicant for an identity check
and discovered that he had no identity documents. On the same day a judge
of the Sestroretsk District Court of St Petersburg found him guilty of an
administrative offence under Article 18.8 of the Code of Administrative
Offences (breach of residence regulations in Russia), fined him
2,000 Russian roubles (RUB) and ordered his expulsion from Russia. The
court ruled that the applicant should be detained in the detention centre for
aliens until his expulsion.
7. Officers of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) interviewed and
fingerprinted the applicant, who had no passport or other identity
documents. He told them that he had been born in Tashkent and, prior to his
arrival in Russia, had had a registered place of residence in the Tashkent
Region.
8. On 30 November 2011 the director of the detention centre for aliens
asked the Embassy of Uzbekistan to issue travel documents (return
certificates) to thirteen individuals, including the applicant, who were
described as being Uzbek nationals. No reply was received.
9. Further similar requests sent on 10 February, 29 March, 31 July and
11 November 2012 did not elicit any reply from the Embassy of Uzbekistan
either.
10. On 7 June 2012 counsel for the applicant sent an inquiry to the
Embassy of Uzbekistan in Russia, seeking to find out whether or not the
applicant had Uzbek nationality and whether he could be removed to
Uzbekistan. No reply was received.
11. On the same day counsel asked the FMS to inform him what
measures had been taken with a view to expelling the applicant from Russia,
whether or not his identity had been established and why the applicant had
already spent more than eleven months in detention. In reply, the FMS
refused to give any information, citing the law on the protection of personal
data.
12. On 14 November 2012 counsel applied to the Sestroretskiy District
Court for an order discontinuing the enforcement of the expulsion order of
19 July 2011. He pointed out that the enforcement was impossible since the
Uzbek authorities would not accept the applicant, who was not a national of
that State.
13. On 10 December 2012 a judge of the Sestroretskiy District Court
rejected the application, without hearing the parties or the applicant.
According to the judge, a failure to take measures with a view to expelling
the applicant was not a ground for discontinuing the enforcement of the
expulsion order. Counsel submitted an appeal, in which he complained in
particular about the absence of a periodic judicial review of the applicant’s
detention in breach of Article 5 § 4 of the Convention and about the State