The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recognized that Russia was the occupier of part of Donbas. Thus, it was determined there that the court has the right to consider the lawsuit of Ukraine against the Russian Federation regarding the war in Donbas.
This is written by "European Truth", whose correspondents are in the meeting hall.
The court ruled that it has jurisdiction to consider complaints against Russia regarding human rights violations in the occupied part of Donbas since 2014, because these territories were under Russian control.
During the hearing, the Russians denied the jurisdiction of the case and explained that it was about the territory of Ukraine, which was ruled by separatists. At the same time, Ukraineʼs position was that it was Russia that exercised control over these territories.
"The court unanimously decided that the events from May 11 [2014] fell under the courtʼs jurisdiction, as the territories seized by the separatists were under the control of the Russian Federation," the judge said.
The ECHR will now begin examining the merits of each of the complaints and determine whether Russia violated human rights in the occupied Donbas.
The lawsuit of the Netherlands against Russia was added to the Ukrainian lawsuit. The Netherlands previously filed a separate lawsuit for the downing of the Boeing in the sky over occupied Donbas, and the court decided to combine it with the Ukrainian lawsuit.
- In January 2021, the ECHR issued a similar decision regarding Ukraineʼs lawsuit against Russia due to the occupation of Crimea. Then the court also recognized that Russia occupied Crimea and had control over it since February 27, 2014.