Abductions, torture, discrimination: ECtHR finds Russia violated rights of Ukrainians in Crimea

Marharyta Sokorenko, Commissioner for ECHR Affairs, reported this.

The ECtHR unanimously confirmed Russia's administrative practices:

• Disappearances with inadequate investigations.
• Ill-treatment and unlawful detentions.
• Unlawful imposition of Russian laws, undermining Crimean courts' legitimacy.
• Forced Ukrainian citizenship changes to Russian.
• Systematic mass searches.
• Transfer of convicts to Russia.
• Assaults on non-Russian religious leaders, leading to beatings and property seizures.
• Blocking of non-Russian media, including Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar stations, with ongoing journalist harassment.
• Bans on peaceful assemblies, attacks on organizers.
• Private property expropriation.
• Closure of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar schools.
• Freedom of movement restrictions between Crimea and Ukraine.
• Discrimination against Crimean Tatars.
• Violations of political prisoners' rights, with no return to Ukraine and brutal treatment.

"Today, June 25, 2024, the decision effectively dismantled Russia's decade-long claim of respecting human rights in Crimea," Sokorenko wrote.

She added it was the first time an international court held Russia accountable for widespread, systematic human rights violations in occupied Crimea.

• On Tuesday, June 25, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.