ECHR to Hear First Ukraine vs Russia Case

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) officially confirmed the acceptance of the legal position of Ukraine in the first lawsuit against Russia. Ukraine's Minister of Justice, Pavel Petrenko, gave the 'green light' from ECHR in Kyiv on Thursday, June 1 2017, Interfax-Ukraine reports. It means that the legal grounds are reasonable and the court will hear the case.

According to Petrenko, Ukraine initiated five cases against Russia in ECHR regarding: human rights violations in Crimea, the illegal transportation of orphaned children from Ukraine to Russia and the rest relate to human rights violations in Donbas.

The Minister noted that the European Court recognized the admissibility of the Ukraine's first claim against the Russian Federation for Moscow's actions in Crimea in 2014, in particular, the violation of human rights in the peninsula.

"We announced that Ukraine will file a legal position with the evidence, including facts which, without any doubt, refute the false comments of the Russian Federation that the European Court has no right and jurisdiction to hear the first case. ECHR has officially confirmed the acceptance of our legal position on the first case of "Ukraine vs. Russia" based on the facts of the illegal human rights violations in the Crimea, " Petrenko said.

The next stage for the case is court hearings. The Minister says that Ukraine waits for the ECHR to approve the schedule for court hearings for this first case.

Earlier, it was reported that Ukraine submitted additional evidence for the annexation of Crimea to the human rights court.

Also, on January 16 2017, Ukraine filed a claim with the International Court of Justice requesting the court to initiate proceedings against Russia.

The ICJ announced its ruling on Ukraine’s case against Russia on April 19 2017. It partially grants Ukraine’s request for preliminary measures against Russia under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. However, the Court said that it would not impose measures ordering Russia to stop funding and equipping pro-Russian separatists as part of the case brought against Moscow by Ukraine.

/Translated by Maria Ulyanovska