On September 3, the European Court of Human Rights issued a press release, in which it announced the discontinuation of some of the cases against Russia pending before the ECHR and relating to events prior to September 16, 2022, when Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe.
These cases concern human rights violations within Russia itself, and the ECHR expressed this position in its simultaneously published decision in the case of decision, Lebedeva and Others v. Russia (application no. 49120/07 and 878 other applications).
In the press release, the ECHR emphasized that it will continue to consider cases against Russia related to conflicts, in particular the aggression and occupation of the territories of Ukraine and Georgia. Moreover, it stated that these cases are a priority.
Currently, the ECHR has more than 5,500 such individual applications related to the war in Ukraine, including the occupation of Crimea.
The Court is also considering two more interstate cases against Russia, namely, the seizure of Ukrainian sailors near the Kerch Strait and the executions of Russian dissidents in Europe, and is considering the issue of compensation for previously issued judgments against the Russia in interstate cases.
Along with the press release, the ECHR published its judgment in the case Ametov and Others v. Russia (application no. 73977/14) on July 7. It concerns the repression of 32 Crimean Tatars by Russian authorities who held rallies in support of Mustafa Dzhemilev in various locations across Crimea on May 3, 2014. They were “fined” for this rallies, and in some cases, the rallies were dispersed by the occupying forces.
The ECHR found a violation of the right to a fair trial in this case due to these “fines” and awarded the applicants between 6,000 and 10,000 euros each. It should also be noted that in this decision, the Court specifically mentioned the Mejlis as the “representative body of the Crimean Tatar people.”
