Ukraine wins a case against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights over Crimea. Mykhailo Savva noted that this is a strengthening of Ukraine’s position
On June 26, the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center hosted a briefing on “Ukraine Wins Case Against Russia on Crimea in ECHR: What Does This Mean for the Country and How Will This Impact Russia?” Mykhailo Savva, an expert at the Center for Civil Rights and a doctor of political science, was the speaker at the event.
On June 25, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued a final judgment in the case brought by Ukraine against Russia over the Crimean Peninsula. The ECHR found numerous human rights violations by Russia in the occupied peninsula, specifically ruling that Russia violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.
International Criminal Court judges issued arrest warrants on suspicion of war crimes, including attacks on civilian objects, causing excessive collateral damage to civilians, and crimes against humanity, for Security Council Secretary Serhii Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valerii Herasimov.
Mykhailo Savva is confident that, diplomatically, Ukraine’s position has been strengthened: “An international judicial body has recognized these attacks as having a very high standard of proving. He recognized this even earlier when he issued arrest warrants for the commander of the Russian long-range air force and the commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Now the ICC raised the bar of guilt, namely the former defense minister and current chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This means that these people are going to be searched for in the world until the day they die. This means that they may be taken under arrest. In any case, these people will not have the freedom of movement they had before. This decision is a clear demonstration that the ongoing shelling is a crime as well.
The first two arrest warrants – for Putin and the children’s rights commissioner Lvova-Belova – are examples of how this can have an impact on Russia’s actions. Afterwards, the repatriation of Ukrainian children from Russia became much easier. And that, I think, is the effect of the ICC decrees as well.
