ECtHR decision can become a basis for new sanctions and pressure on Russia - Sokorenko

Ukraine plans to use the European Court of Human Rights' decision on Russia's human rights violations in Ukraine as a basis for further diplomatic and sanction steps against Russia. This was stated by Margarita Sokorenko, the Commissioner for European Court of Human Rights Affairs, during an online briefing, as reported by UNN.

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We were very clearly aware that our potential decisions of the European Court… that potentially we had maximally substantiated those conclusions and those complaints that we spoke about in court, that they would then form the basis for further diplomatic, foreign policy actions by our state. This decision, today's conclusions, which are very clear, have incredibly clear messages, they will be further used in our foreign policy work to diplomatically and, I think, also sanction-wise pressure the Russian Federation at the international level.

She emphasized that the conclusions provided by the ECHR today will be thoroughly analyzed by Ukraine, as they are of great importance for proceedings in other international institutions.

In particular, many elements indicated by the European Court here speak of an aggressive war and of the crime of aggression by the Russian Federation. And what concerns the issues of deportation, Russification of the population in the occupied territories, these are elements that we can talk about as elements of genocide. That is, today's decision is not an end to the work, it is only a new stage in our further actions to not just have certain legal decisions, but also to have certain active actions not only from Ukraine and the Council of Europe, but also from our partners.

Recall

The European Court of Human Rights stated on Wednesday that Russia violated international law in Ukraine. This is the first time an international court has held Moscow accountable for human rights violations since the full-scale invasion in 2022.