Ukraine lodges fourth case against Russia at European Court of Human Rights

The case concerns the detention and prosecution of Ukrainian nationals on various criminal charges. There are now four Ukraine v Russia inter-state applications pending before the court.

On 11 August 2018, the Ukrainian government lodged a new inter-state application under Article 33 (inter-state cases) of the European Convention on Human Rights against Russia.

The application concerns Ukrainian nationals arrested and prosecuted, and in some cases convicted, by the Russian Federation on charges of membership of organisations banned by Russian law, incitement to hatred or violence, war crimes, espionage and terrorism.

The Ukrainian government alleges violations of Articles 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security), 6 (right to a fair trial), 7 (no punishment without law), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion), 10 (freedom of expression), 11 (freedom of assembly and association), 13 (right to an effective remedy), 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) of the Convention.

According to Ukraine, the Russian Federation has adopted an administrative practice of suppressing the expression by Ukrainian nationals of political views favouring a return to the pre-2014 borders and penalising Ukrainian nationals’ membership of certain organisations that are legal in Ukraine.