The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has recognized Russia's violation of freedom of assembly in Crimea and confirmed that Ukraine is fulfilling its obligations under conditions of occupation. This was reported by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, according to UNN.
Details
The European Court of Human Rights has delivered a judgment in the case of "Shukurdzhiev and Kuzmin v. Russia and Ukraine," concerning the persecution of participants in a peaceful protest in temporarily occupied Crimea. The Court established a violation of Article 11 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (freedom of peaceful assembly) by the Russian Federation. This refers to the events of March 9, 2015, in Simferopol, when participants of a rally marking Taras Shevchenko's birthday were detained by occupation "authorities" and held accountable, specifically for using symbols with the inscription "Crimea is Ukraine."
The ECHR emphasized that Russian legislation extended to the territory of Crimea cannot be considered "law" within the meaning of the Convention, as its application occurred in violation of international humanitarian law. The Court also confirmed the existence of a systemic practice of suppressing pro-Ukrainian assemblies on the peninsula.
At the same time, the court considered the applicants' complaint against Ukraine regarding the allegedly ineffective investigation of the case and dismissed it.
The ECHR stated that Ukraine did not violate its positive obligations under Article 11 of the Convention and recalled that a state that does not exercise effective control over part of its territory retains limited positive obligations under the Convention. These obligations consist of taking measures that the state can realistically resort to in a situation where it lacks control over part of its own territory: diplomatic, legal, and others,
The Court took into account that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies acted on their own initiative: they opened criminal proceedings based on open sources, identified the persons involved, granted one of the applicants victim status, and carried out possible procedural actions.
Conducting investigative actions directly on the temporarily occupied territory was objectively impossible.
The ministry indicated that the ECHR decision is of great importance because it:
- confirms the systemic nature of human rights violations
in temporarily occupied Crimea by the Russian Federation;
- establishes the international legal responsibility of Russia
for such actions;
- highlights the importance of proactive actions by Ukrainian
authorities to protect the rights of citizens in temporarily occupied territories;
- clarifies the standard of a state's positive obligations in
conditions of occupation as realistic and taking into account objective limitations.
As a reminder
The European Court of Human Rights has begun official communication in cases concerning the ban on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, imposed by the occupation authorities of Crimea in 2016. Appeals to the Court were filed by both the representative bodies of the Crimean Tatars and individual citizens.