Ukraine lodges new application against Russia at ECHR

23.02.2021 15:13

Ukrinform

Ukraine has lodged a new interstate application against the Russian Federation over the organization of a number of high-profile assassination attempts and assassinations both on the territory of Ukraine and on the territory of the Council of Europe member states.

"Ukraine enters another section of legal front in the confrontation with Russia in the European Court of Human Rights," Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denys Malyuska announced, the Ministry’s press service posted on Facebook.

According to him, Russia for a long time has been widely using tactics of terror through political assassinations on its own territory, the territory of other states and on the territory of Ukraine, since the beginning of Russia's aggression and occupation of part of Ukraine’s territory.

According to him, since 2014, a number of assassination attempts and assassinations have been carried out in Ukraine by representatives of Russian special services, recruited persons and representatives of the Russian occupation administrations "LPR/DPR", causing a significant outcry in Ukrainian society.

"At the same time, the Russian Federation does not conduct an effective investigation and takes measures to shift responsibility for such crimes to other states, including Ukraine. This is a blatant violation of Russia's international legal obligations, including the right to life, which is guaranteed by Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Ukraine is complaining about the violation of this provision of the Convention in the new interstate application against Russia," the minister stressed.

Ivan Lishchyna, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine - Government Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights, clarified that the existing cases of extrajudicial use of lethal force are also sufficient for the ECHR to establish the existence of so-called "administrative practice", i.e. systematic violations of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms that are backed up or tolerated by a relevant state.

"In the new interstate application on political assassinations, the Government of Ukraine asks the ECHR to recognize the existence of Russia's deliberate policy towards the murder of persons who, in Russia's opinion, pose a threat to its security," Lishchyna noted.

On Monday, February 22, the ECHR informed the Government of Ukraine that the interstate application had been registered under No.10691/21 and that proceedings were pending.