{"id":1919,"date":"2018-01-09T00:10:53","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T00:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rcstaging.co.uk\/ehrac\/?p=1919"},"modified":"2021-04-08T22:09:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T21:09:14","slug":"abduction-ill-treatment-forced-labour-donbas","status":"publish","type":[30],"link":"http:\/\/ehrac.org.uk\/en_gb\/abduction-ill-treatment-forced-labour-donbas\/","title":{"rendered":"Abduction, ill-treatment and forced labour in Donbas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t
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Area under \u2018separatist\u2019 control (BBC\/Ukraine National Security and Defence Council, 2014)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Almost four years after the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine began, there is little sign of resolution. Though the conflict no longer dominates international news, countless people have been \u2013 and continue to be \u2013 subjected to\u00a0a wide range of human rights abuses<\/a>. The European Court of Human Rights has received approximately\u00a04000 applications<\/a>\u00a0related to the conflict and the annexation of Crimea, many of which have been lodged against both Russia and Ukraine (December 2018<\/a>).\u00a0EHRAC<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU)<\/a>\u00a0have been at the forefront of representing victims of the conflict. In Spring 2019, EHRAC and UHHRU replied to the European Court\u2019s questions and the Ukrainian and Russian Governments\u2019 observations about what happened to four people who were detained by armed \u2018separatists\u2019 in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

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What happened to them?<\/em><\/h3>\n
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In spring 2014,\u00a0Igor Oprya, Pavel Yurov and Denys Gryshuk<\/a>\u00a0were travelling to Kyiv from Donetsk when they were abducted on a Slovyansk street. They were unlawfully detained in the former building of the Ukrainian Security Service by \u2018separatist\u2019 militants from the \u2018Donetsk People\u2019s Republic\u2019 (DNR). Mr Oprya has a disability. They were kept there for over two months, and released on 6 July 2014. During that time, they were all ill-treated, including being kept in appalling conditions, and Mr Oprya was made to perform forced labour for the \u2018separatists\u2019.<\/p>\n

Dmytro Potyekhin<\/a>\u00a0is a political analyst and journalist. In August 2014, he was abducted by DNR \u2018separatists\u2019, who held him unlawfully in the premises of a Donetsk factory for eight weeks. He was released on 24 September 2014, having been subjected to ill-treatment, kept in inhuman and degrading conditions, and made to carry out forced labour.<\/p>\n

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How do these events violate their human rights?<\/em><\/h3>\n
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EHRAC and UHHRU lodged applications on behalf of Mr Oprya, Mr Yurov, Mr Gryshuk and Mr Potyekhin \u00a0at the European Court in 2014. We argue that all four men were subjected to ill-treatment in violation of Articles 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and were unlawfully detained in violation of Article 5 ECHR. Mr Oprya and Mr Potyekhin complain that they were made to perform forced labour, in violation of Article 4 ECHR. Finally, Mr Potyekhin claims that he did not have any contact with his relatives during his detention, in breach of the right to family life (Article 8 ECHR). On behalf of all of the applicants, we argue that neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian authorities afforded them an effective domestic remedy for these violations, in breach of Article 13 ECHR.<\/p>\n

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Why are these cases important?<\/em><\/h3>\n
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At the heart of these cases is the issue of who is responsible for human rights violations occurring in the Donbas region of Ukraine. On the one hand, both the DNR and the \u201cLuhansk People\u2019s Republic\u201d have claimed independence from Ukraine, and the \u2018separatist\u2019 movement is widely acknowledged to be propped up by Russian political and military support. However, the territory is internationally recognised as Ukraine, though the Ukrainian authorities acknowledge that they no longer have \u2018effective control\u2019 of the region. We argue that both Russia and Ukraine bear responsibility for upholding the rule of law and ensuring the rights of citizens of that region are protected, in both these and our other cases. EHRAC and UHHRU are leading on the litigation of cases arising from the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Our joint litigation has the potential to establish the extent of Russia\u2019s responsibility in the conflict, as well as providing long awaited justice to its victims.<\/p>\n

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What happens next?<\/em><\/h3>\n
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Judgment is now pending from the Court in these cases, after EHRAC and UHHRU submitted our response to the Russian Government\u2019s observations. However, the Court has adjourned cases from the conflict in eastern Ukraine until it has delivered judgment in the related interstate case\u00a0Ukraine v Russia<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Translation(s)<\/h3>\n