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KIM v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW AND PRACTICE
A. Code of Administrative Offences
23. Article 18.8 of the current version of the Code provides as follows:
“1. An infringement by a foreign national or a stateless person of the procedure for
entry to the Russian Federation or the regulations on stay or residence in the Russian
Federation, including ... a breach of the regulations on migration, travel or choice of
permanent or temporary residence ... shall be punishable by an administrative fine ...
and by possible administrative removal from the Russian Federation.
1.1. A breach of the regulations on stay or residence in the Russian Federation
committed by a foreign national or a stateless person who has no document
confirming the right to reside or stay in the Russian Federation ... shall be punishable
by an administrative fine of between RUB 2,000 and 5,000 and by administrative
removal from the Russian Federation.
...
3. The offences described in paragraphs 1, 1.1 ... above, if committed in the federallevel cities of Moscow and St Petersburg or in the Moscow or Leningrad Regions,
shall be punishable by an administrative fine of between RUB 5,000 and 7,000 and by
administrative removal from the Russian Federation.”
Paragraphs 1.1 and 3 of Article 18.8 were added by Federal Law
no. 207-FZ of 23 July 2013.
24. Article 32.10 (5), in force at the time the applicant’s detention was
ordered, allowed domestic courts to order the detention of a foreign national
or stateless person with a view to his or her administrative removal. As from
1 January 2012, the relevant provisions have been contained in
Articles 3.10 (5) and 27.19 (3).
B. Case-law of the Constitutional Court
25. In its decision no. 6-P dated 17 February 1998, the Constitutional
Court held, in particular, as follows:
“It follows from Article 22 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, taken in
conjunction with its Article 55 (paragraphs 2 and 3), that detention for an indefinite
period cannot be regarded a permissible limitation on the right to liberty and personal
security, and is in fact a violation of that right. Therefore the provisions ... concerning
detention pending expulsion should not serve as a basis for detention for an indefinite
period even when the expulsion of a stateless person is delayed because no State is
prepared to accept that person ... Otherwise detention would turn from a measure
necessary to ensure the execution of an expulsion order into a ... punishment which is
not provided under Russian law and which is incompatible with the provisions of the
Constitution of the Russian Federation.”