ECHR orders Ukraine to pay former Sloviansk mayor EUR 3,600

The ECHR delivered such a judgment on Thursday, October 24, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Court, unanimously, holds that the respondent State [Ukraine] is to pay the applicant, within three months, the following amounts," the judgment reads.

In particular, Shtepa should be paid EUR 2,600 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 1,000 in respect of costs and expenses.

The ECHR ruled that there had been a violation of two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to Shtepa.

At the same time, the judgment may be appealed by the Ukrainian state.

Shtepa, referring to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, complained that she had been subjected to physical and psychological ill-treatment in detention and that the material conditions of her detention, including medical treatment, had been inadequate.

In the context of Article 5 of the Convention, the applicant complained that Ukrainian courts ordering her pretrial detention had been arbitrary and lacked reasoning and that her pretrial detention had been lengthy and unjustified.

Referring to Article 6 of the Convention, the applicant complained that the length of the criminal proceedings in her case had been incompatible with the "reasonable time" requirement.

She further complained under Articles 14 and 18 in conjunction with Article 5 of the Convention, that she had suffered discriminatory treatment aimed at her isolation from political activity while in detention.

Shtepa was detained on July 11, 2014, and remanded in a pretrial detention center until September 20, 2017. She was then placed under house arrest.

She was accused of creating terrorist organizations and encroaching on Ukraine's territorial integrity. Shtepa said at a court session that she had called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to enter Sloviansk under the threat of terrorists, that she was beaten in the captivity of terrorists, and that she had given interviews to Russian media outlets at gunpoint. She faces life imprisonment.

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