The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia guilty of systematic violations of human rights in Ukraine’s occupied Crimean Peninsula.
The verdict on Tuesday in the first interstate case brought by Ukraine against Russia over Crimea said that the rights breaches starting in February 2014, when Moscow occupied and annexed the peninsula, included violations of the right to life, inhuman or degrading treatment, the prohibition of freedom of religion and freedom of expression, among others.
The court based in Strasbourg, France, said in its unanimous judgment that there was sufficient evidence – corroborated by a range of witness testimony and reports from nongovernmental organizations – to find Russia guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
It said the “incidents had been sufficiently numerous and interconnected” and amounted to a “system of violations”.
The court ordered Russia “to take measures as soon as possible for the safe return of the relevant prisoners transferred from Crimea to penal facilities located on the territory of the Russian Federation”.
The impact of the decision is likely to be limited as Russia refuses to recognize the judgements of the court. The country was expelled from the Council of Europe in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As a result, it is no longer a member of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the court in Strasbourg enforces.
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