MOSCOW, October 2 - RAPSI. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has upheld the first application out of 150 submitted by Russians complaining of having been provoked by undercover police to commit crimes, according to the judgment posted on the court's website on Tuesday.

The application was filed by Viktor Veselov, Maxim Zolotukhin and Igor Druzhinin, who were convicted in Russia for the sale of drugs. They argued that they had acted in response to a provocation from undercover policemen who wanted to buy drugs from them. The applicants said that the actions of the police violated their right to a just trial, as guaranteed by Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The ECHR sided with the arguments stated in the application. The court stated that actions such as these by law enforcement officers constituted an abuse of power and thus violated the rights of the applicants.

The ECHR said that currently there are around 150 similar applications pending, submitted by those sentenced for selling drugs or bribery who claim to have been illegally provoked by police.