Ukraine and the Netherlands will win the case of Russia's responsibility for human rights violations in eastern Ukraine - Ministry of Justice
The Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights, Deputy Minister of Justice Ivan Lishchyna, believes that Ukraine and the Netherlands will win the case of Russia's responsibility for human rights violations in eastern Ukraine.
He stated this in an interview with the EP, Rubryka reports.
Lishchyna expressed the opinion that Ukraine's chances of winning this case were high. "I really hope so. We've gathered enough evidence," he explained.
The lawyer stressed that the major challenge was the legal proof Russia controlled the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and this decision would be the crucial victory of the Ukrainian party.
"The key point in the case is Russian Federation's effective control in this territory. And if we pass this filter in the European Court of Human Rights, then everything else is more or less easy… We, of course, also prove the existence of human rights violations. They (Russians – ed.) do it so brazenly and frankly that it isn't very difficult to prove," the deputy minister said.
Lishchyna called the recognition that "since the pseudo-referendum (in the part of Donetsk and Luhansk, which came out of control of the Ukrainian central government – ed.) and the territory where this "referendum" was held, was under the control of the Russian Federation," the key task of the Ukrainian party in the case.
At the same time, the deputy head of the Ministry of Justice noted that some settlements sometimes returned to Kyiv's control, so Ukraine was also proving in Strasbourg a more complicated scheme of Kyiv's losing control over ORDLO.
In addition, he stated that among the evidence that Ukraine submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), proving Russian control over the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, was the testimony of Russian soldiers, prisoners, and those who joined the Ukrainian side.
"For us, the task is somewhat facilitated by the fact that the Russians say that their troops aren't there. This means that if we prove the presence of at least one soldier, it means that there are troops there," the deputy minister explained.
He also told about some witnesses, whose testimonies Kyiv had already sent to Strasbourg, and noted that their testimonies proved that the Russian version of Russian troops being absent in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions was untrue.
It is specified that one of the blocks of these testimonies is connected with the Russian military men, who were captured during the Ilovaisk operation, when the Ukrainian troops were already retreating, and then exchanged for the Ukrainian military.
"The news reported that one of them died in Ukraine. The Russians wanted to show that Ukraine was lying, and recorded a video with him: 'I'm my name, I'm in the Rostov region for training.' But our military at this time came out of entrapment and posted a previously filmed video where he admits 'Yes, I'm the soldier, I'm captured by the Ukrainian army.' And it turns out that the Russians can no longer say that he was 'on vacation' or 'resigned yesterday.' The video proves otherwise," he said.
According to Lishchyna, Kyiv also sent testimonies by tanker Svitlana Dryuk to Strasbourg, who fought on the side of Russian-controlled militant units and then sided with Ukraine.
"There's evidence where she tells how the Russians now control this territory through their military commanders," said the Commissioner for the ECtHR.
Also among the evidence, as he clarified, are the documents of the GRU servicemen, who carried out the operation on Ukrainian territory and were captured by the Ukrainian army, and so on.
Note
On June 29, Lishchyna informed that the session of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in the case "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia nos. 43800/14, 8019/16 and 28525/20" was scheduled for November 24, 2021.
On November 30 last year, Lishchyna informed that the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights had decided to join the interstate case "Ukraine v. Russia" no. 8019/16, which concerns the events in the east of our country, the case "Ukraine v. Russia" no. 43800/14 concerning children from state institutions who were illegally taken to Russia at the beginning of the war, as well as the case "Netherlands v. Russia" no. 28525/20, which relates to the downed MN-17.
The case was named "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" nos. 43800/14, 8019/16, and 28525/20.
