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The European Court of Human Rights has found the government of the Russian Federation responsible for the administrative practice of human rights violations in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. This is stated in the ECHR’s decision on the admissibility and merits of the interstate case “Ukraine v. Russia (re: Crimea).”
In its decision, the European Court of Human Rights noted that the Ukrainian government provided comprehensive evidence of systematic violations of human rights and freedoms by representatives of the Russian Federation and their controlled entities. These violations include illegal detentions and searches, cruel treatment, persecution of religious community members and Crimean Tatars, cessation of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar media activities, and the prohibition of the Ukrainian language in schools.
The European Court of Human Rights also stated that the Russian Federation is responsible for violating the rights of Ukrainian political prisoners – individuals persecuted by Russia for their pro-Ukrainian stance.
“This decision is the first in which an international judicial body has recognized the Russian Federation as responsible for the policy of large-scale and systematic violations of various human rights and freedoms in the temporarily occupied territory of the Crimean Peninsula. Now, the ECHR can move on to considering individual applications,” emphasized Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra, who also noted the work of the Ukrainian representative’s team at the ECHR.
