The Supreme Court equated a long conversation between a citizen and the police to detention

As reported by Rossiyskaya Gazeta with reference to the Supreme Court, the long “unofficial” conversations of law enforcement officers are connected with the fact that after the official registration of the detention, the countdown begins for a number of procedures, and if it suddenly turns out that the detainee is not guilty of anything, he will receive the right to compensation. Therefore, law enforcement officers prefer to keep a person in limbo when he is not detained, but not free either. However, this practice is a violation.

By law, police officers do not have the right to detain a person who is not a suspect or an accused without justification. The term of administrative detention cannot exceed three hours.

Thus, the citizen managed through the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to sue the state for 9 thousand euros in compensation for moral damage, as well as 2.7 thousand euros as compensation for court costs and expenses. “The fact that the authorities considered that the applicant was not detained within the meaning of Russian law did not mean that he was not deprived of his liberty in accordance with the provisions of the Convention,” the court's decision said.

The Strasbourg court noted that international norms interpret the concept of "deprivation of liberty" rather broadly - it also includes detention. If a person is not officially presented with any claims and is not allowed to leave the police department, then this is also a deprivation of liberty.