Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia in the ECHR: awaiting the most extensive oral hearings on June 12, 2024, in Strasbourg.

On June 12, 2024, oral hearings on the admissibility and merits of the interstate case "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" will take place. This case concerns human rights violations in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions since 2014 and during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, as per applications nos. 8019/16, 43800/14, 28525/20, and 11055/22, to which 26 states have joined as third parties. These include: the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Finland, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Poland, the Portuguese Republic, Romania, the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Slovenia, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, Iceland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Bulgaria, as well as one non-governmental organization.

The number of third parties involved is unprecedented in the history of ECHR consideration of interstate cases!

Currently, a delegation from the Government of Ukraine has arrived in Strasbourg, including representatives from the Ministry of Justice led by the Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, Margarita Sokorenko, along with representatives of the Secretariat of the Agent before the European Court of Human Rights.

Recall that on January 25, 2023, the Grand Chamber of the ECHR ruled on the admissibility of the joint interstate case "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" concerning applications nos. 8019/16, 43800/14, 28525/20 (regarding Donbas, the abduction of orphaned children, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17), recognizing it admissible. On February 17, 2023, the ECHR informed the Government of Ukraine of the consolidation of the mentioned case with the interstate case "Ukraine v. Russia (X)" concerning application no. 11055/22 (regarding the full-scale Russian invasion) into one case "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" concerning applications nos. 8019/16, 43800/14, 28525/20, and 11055/22.

On January 26, 2022, oral hearings were held at the ECHR regarding the admissibility of the mentioned application.

The Court found that Ukraine provided sufficiently substantiated clear evidence of both the repetitive acts in violation of the Convention and the official tolerance on the part of Russia.

Among other things, on January 25, 2023, the European Court established for the first time among international jurisdictional bodies that the territories in eastern Ukraine had been seized by Russian occupation forces since May 11, 2014, and at least until January 26, 2022 (the date of the oral hearings), were under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The European Court referred to the presence of Russian military personnel in eastern Ukraine since April 2014 and the widescale deployment of Russian troops no later than August 2014. It also found that the respondent state had significant influence on the military strategy of its puppet administrations; that it provided weapons and other military equipment to these occupying administrations in significant quantities from their inception (the so-called "L/DNR") and in subsequent months and years; that it conducted artillery shelling at the request of these occupying administrations; and that it provided political and economic support to these occupying entities.

The significance of this event, which will take place on June 12, 2024, cannot be overstated: in the face of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the international community is uniting to hold the Russia accountable under international law — now, the ECHR will present a powerful joint position in support of Ukraine.