SISOJEVA AND OTHERS v. LATVIA JUDGMENT 3 11. On 16 June 2005 a Chamber of the First Section, composed of Mr C.L. Rozakis, President, Mrs F. Tulkens, Mrs N. Vajić, Mr A. Kovler, Mr V. Zagrebelsky and Mrs E. Steiner, judges, Mrs J. Briede, ad hoc judge, and of Mr S. Nielsen, Section Registrar, delivered a judgment in which it held as follows: by five votes to two, that the applicants could claim to be “victims” for the purposes of Article 34 of the Convention; by five votes to two, that there had been a violation of Article 8 of the Convention; and by six votes to one, that the respondent Government had not failed to comply with their obligations under Article 34 of the Convention. The Chamber also decided, by five votes to two, to award each of the three applicants 5,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage. The partly dissenting opinion of Mr Kovler and the joint dissenting opinion of Mrs Vajić and Mrs Briede were annexed to the judgment. 12. On 16 September 2005 the Government requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43 of the Convention. On 30 November 2005 a panel of the Grand Chamber granted the request. 13. The composition of the Grand Chamber was determined according to the provisions of Article 27 §§ 2 and 3 of the Convention and Rule 24 of the Rules of Court. On 3 May 2006 Mr I. Cabral Barreto, substitute judge, replaced Mr C.L. Rozakis, who was unable to take part in the further consideration of the case (Rule 24 § 3). In the same manner, on 4 October 2006, Mr M. Pellonpää, substitute judge, replaced Mr L. Caflisch. 14. A hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 24 May 2006 (Rule 59 § 3). There appeared before the Court: (a) for the Government Mrs I. REINE, Mrs S. KAULIŅA, Mrs M. ZVAUNE, Mr K. ĀBOLIŅŠ, (b) for the applicants Mr V. PORTNOV, Mrs G. NILUS, Mrs Y. BORISOVA, Mrs M. SAMSONOVA, Agent, Counsel, Advisers; Counsel, Advisers; (c) for the Russian Government Mr P. LAPTEV, representative of the Russian Federation at the Court, Mr Y. BERESTNEV, Mr D. SPIRIN, Counsel, Adviser. Mr M. VINOGRADOV,