European Court of Human Rights to Rule on ‘Crimean Case’ Soon

Ukraine is awaiting a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the admissibility of a claim against Russia over an attempt to occupy Crimea in the coming days, Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denys Malyuska posted on his Facebook page.

“Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea). It is a rare case when we do not defend ourselves in the European Court of Human Rights but attack… We are now awaiting the ECHR’s ruling on admissibility. It will not yet be a decision on the merits of claim, but it will certainly be an important intermediate result. The ECHR will publish a date of the announcement of the decision on admissibility on its website within the next few days,” the official said.

According to him, if the Court finds the case admissible, it will proceed to consider the complaint of Ukraine on the merits.

The Ukrainian minister reminded that on 13 March 2014, the Government of Ukraine filed with the ECHR the first interstate complaint against Russia regarding the events on the territory of Crimea.

The content of the document “Ukraine v. Russia” covers the complaints of the Government of Ukraine about violations, committed by the Russian Federation in March-September 2014, of the rights of citizens guaranteed by the following articles of the European Convention on Human Rights:

• Article 2 (right to life)
• Article 3 (prohibition of torture)
• Article 5 (right to liberty and security)
• Article 6 (right to a fair trial)
• Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life)
• Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion)
• Article 10 (freedom of expression)
• Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association)
• Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Articles 3, 8, 9, 10, 11 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No.1 to the Convention (protection of property), Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education) and Article 2 of Protocol No.4 (freedom of movement)

Malyuska noted that during the hearings, the ECHR judges put forward a number of additional questions. In particular, they asked whether the parties were willing to compromise in order to settle the dispute amicably.

“The Government of Ukraine stated that given the circumstances of the dispute, namely the illegal occupation of the sovereign territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and systematic violations of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens in this territory, no compromise can be reached until the full return of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the jurisdiction of Ukraine,” the Justice Minister said.

The Ukraine v. Russia case is currently being considered for admissibility. At this stage of the consideration of the case, Ukraine is proving the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation in respect of the violations filed by Ukraine.

As a reminder, Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov previously emphasised that concrete steps for de-occupation of the peninsula must be announced following the future Crimean Platform summit.

“In addition to statements, they have to outline specific steps that will be taken by these states so that Russian troops really leave Crimea. Everything must be done to make the Crimean Platform successful and not end in failure,” Chubarov said.

In his opinion, foreign states that will support the Platform should advocate tougher sanctions against Russia, in particular, the imposition of an immediate embargo on Russian energy.

Bohdan Marusyak