The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday accepted a complaint brought by Ukraine against Russia alleging human rights violations in the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, saying it was backed by sufficient evidence and was therefore admissible for consideration.
The ECHR “has, by a majority, declared the application partly admissible. The decision will be followed by a judgement at a later date,” the court said; it noted, however, that it was not ruling on whether the annexation of Crimea itself was illegal.
“The Court held that it was not called upon in the case to decide whether Crimea’s admission, under Russian law, into Russia had been lawful from the standpoint of international law.”
Ukraine maintains that Russia has exercised effective control over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol since February 27, 2014, and that its troops have killed and tortured civilians, as well as local police. Since then, it has filed numerous inter-State cases against Moscow, with more than 7,000 individual applications relating to events in Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, and the Sea of Azov. Multiple international human rights groups have also long pointed to the abuses taking place in the region, which include restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and the harassment of pro-Ukraine activists and members of the Crimean Tatar community.
The ECHR said that it found Kyiv’s account to be “coherent and consistent” with evidence to prove that Russian security forces in the region were not just “passive bystanders” but were involved in the violations. Ukraine’s Justice Minister, Denis Malyuska, called the decision a “victory” and a “powerful legal blow to the mythology used by Russia in the hybrid war.”
Russia sent its forces to Crimea and annexed parts of the peninsula in 2014, which led to the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and a slew of other nations to impose harsh sanctions on the country. It has also supported separatist rebel groups in eastern Ukraine in a long-running conflict that has killed more than 14,000 people over the last six years.
Moscow, for its part, has denied all allegations of human rights abuses and maintains that the people of Crimea had decided their future through a referendum in 2014, in which Crimean authorities announced that more than 95% of voters supported joining Russia. However, the US, EU, alongside the UN, consider the vote illegitimate, and inconsistent with the Ukrainian constitution and international law. To this end, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) last month adopted a non-binding resolution calling on Moscow to withdraw its forces from Crimea and end the transfer of weapons to Ukraine, which Russia unsurprisingly denounced.
After the court’s press release on Thursday, the Russian Justice Ministry said that in the course of further proceedings, the country’s legal position would “continue to be based on the criteria, treaties, and practice of international tribunals established by international law.”
ECHR Accepts Ukraine’s Case Against Russia
The court agreed on Thursday to look into Ukraine’s complaint against alleged human rights violations in the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
January 15, 2021
SOURCE: COUNCIL OF EUROPE PORTAL