On July 13, the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) published the communication in cases 21414/18, 21897/18, 22001/18, and 22002/18 against Russia, where applicants Viktor Novytskyy, Gennadiy Otychko, Ruslan Skrypnyk, and Sergiy Kalinichenko were the crew members of Ukrainian‑registered fishing vessel “ЯМК-0041” from the Ochakiv, apprehended in the Black Sea by the Russian Border Guard for alleged “illegal fishing” in the “Russian exclusive economic zone” on 4 May 2018.
The applicants were taken to Balaklava, where their identification documents were seized, and they were kept in places of non-freedom. On October 30, 2018, three applicants were exchanged for the crew of the Crimean fishing vessel “Nord,” which had previously been detained by the Ukrainian authorities. The fourth applicant, Novytskyy, was declared by the so-called “Balaklavskyi District Court of Sevastopol” in June 2019 as “guilty in illegal fighery”, he was subsequently released and made his way to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine via the Kalanchak checkpoint.
All applicants complain to ECHR under Articles 5, 8, and 11 of the European Convention in respect of their alleged unlawful detention, which resulted in their inability to maintain contact with their families and make a living by continuing their fishing activities. All applicants claim that they were detained for political purposes and contrary to the provisions of Article 18 of the Convention and that they did not have at their disposal effective domestic remedies for the above complaints, as required by Article 13 of the Convention.
Viktor Novytskyy additionally complained under Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention of his “conviction” by a “trial court” in Crimea on the basis of Russian law. Let us remind, that our Association’s experts, including Proffessor Borys Babin, gave, during the last six years, relevant aid to the “ЯМК-0041” crew members for preparing relevant claims to the international bodies, relevant procedural communications, also as in the administrative case 420/7376/20 of determinig those persons’ statute as victims of occupiers’ repressions.
