Lexploria

Published on 31 January 2022

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 39553/16 Yelena Mikhaylovna VYACHESLAVOVA against Ukraine and 7 other applications (see list appended) communicated on 14 January 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The present cases concern a massive violent confrontation between the “pro-Euromaidan” and “anti-Euromaidan” activists that took place in Odesa on 2 May 2014. On that day the anti-Euromaidan activists, who opposed the recent ousting of President Yanukovych from power as a result of the protest movement known as “Euromaidan” (or “Maidan”), clashed with the pro ‑ Euromaidan activists, who were holding a rally in support of those changes. [1] Forty-eight persons were reported dead and over two hundred injured in connection with the relevant events. Several sets of criminal proceedings were instituted into the events, most of them currently ongoing.

The present cases were lodged by thirty-one applicants who either lost a relative or sustained injuries in the aforesaid confrontation, as participants on either side or by-standers. The applicants whose relatives were killed allege that the State authorities had failed to protect their lives and the applicants who suffered injuries allege that they had failed to protect them from ill ‑ treatment. All applicants further allege that the investigation of the relevant circumstances has been ineffective and that they had suffered extreme anguish and distress on account of the manner in which the authorities handled the investigation and treated them in its course. They refer to Articles 2 or 3 in this respect. Some applicants who filed civil claims within the framework of the ongoing criminal proceedings also complain about their length, invoking Article 6 of the Convention. One applicant additionally invokes Article 8 of the Convention complaining of a delay in handing her the body of her deceased father for burial. Finally, all the applicants complain, under Article 13 of the Convention, that they had no effective remedies for their complaints concerning either death of their relatives or injuries sustained by them personally on 2 May 2014.

According to the material presented by the applicants, the confrontation started near Hretska Square in the city centre, when anti-Euromaidan activists attacked the participants of a pro-Euromaidan rally. Six persons, including relatives of some of the applicants, [2] died as a result of gunfire injuries sustained during the ensuing street battles in the vicinity of the Hretska Square. Subsequently, the prevailing pro-Euromaidan activists arrived at their opponents’ encampment at Kulykove Pole Square and started destroying and torching their tents. By that time numerous anti ‑ Euromaidan activists had barricaded themselves in a five-storey Trade Union Building facing the square and both parties exchanged shots and Molotov cocktails. A fire broke out in the Trade Union Building, which took the lives of thirty-four persons, including relatives of some of the applicants. [3]

Eight persons, including relatives of some of the applicants [4] , were killed when falling from the burning building either in attempts to escape, or as a result of falling or being pushed out of the windows.

The remaining applicants sustained burns and other injuries.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

The applicants are requested to provide copies of identification documents indicating the correct spelling of their names in the official language of the country of nationality.

1. Has the respondent State complied with its positive obligation to protect the life of the applicants’ deceased relatives, as required by Article 2 of the Convention?

In particular, have the competent authorities taken all the steps that could have been reasonably expected from them

(a) to prevent a violent confrontation between the pro-Euromaidan and anti-Euromaidan activists in Odesa on 2 May 2014 ( all applications )?

(b) to halt the violence after the confrontation had begun ( all applications )?

(c) to prevent the eruption and the spread of the fire in the Trade Union Building, to have it extinguished, and/or to evacuate the persons inside ( applications nos. 39553/16, 52632/16, 53467/16, 59339/17, 47092/18, and 2467/19 )?

2. Having regard to the procedural protection of the right to life (see paragraph 104 of Salman v. Turkey [GC], no. 21986/93, ECHR 2000-VII), was the investigation of the deaths of the applicants’ relatives in the present case by the domestic authorities such as to meet the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention ( all applications )?

3. Considering the physical injuries suffered by Mr Y. Didenko, Mr S. Dmitriyev, and Mr A. Gerasimov on 2 May 2014, has the respondent State defaulted on its positive obligation under Article 3 of the Convention to protect them from ill ‑ treatment (application no. 59339/17) ?

4. Having regard to procedural protection from inhuman or degrading treatment (see paragraph 131 of Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, ECHR 2000-IV), was the investigation of the complaints concerning the alleged ill ‑ treatment on 2 May 2014 lodged by Mr Y. Didenko, Mr S. Dmitriyev, and Mr A. Gerasimov in breach of Article 3 of the Convention (application no. 59339/17) ?

5. Have the applicants been subjected to ill-treatment within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention on account of the manner, in which the authorities handled the investigation and treated them in its course (all applications) ?

6. Has the length of the criminal proceedings, in which the applicants acted as civil claimants, been in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (applications nos. 52632/16; 53467/16; 59339/17; 76896/17; and 2467/19) ?

7. Has there been a breach of either Article 3 or Article 8 of the Convention on account of the complaint lodged by Mrs Y. Vyacheslavova concerning a delay in handing her father’s body for burial (application no. 39553/16) ?

8. Did the applicants whose relatives were killed on 2 May 2014 have at their disposal an effective domestic remedy for their complaints under Article 2, as required by Article 13 of the Convention ( all applications )?

9. Did Mr Y. Didenko, Mr S. Dmitriyev, and Mr A. Gerasimov have at their disposal an effective domestic remedy for their complaints under Article 3 concerning the State’s failure to protect them from ill-treatment suffered on 2 May 2014, as required by Article 13 of the Convention (application no. 59339/17) ?

APPENDIX

Application no.

Case name Lodged on

Applicant Year of Birth Residence Nationality

Applicant injured/ Relative killed

Relevant circumstances

Represented by

39553/16

Vyacheslavova v. Ukraine

27/06/2016

Yelena Mikhaylovna VYACHESLAVOVA 1976 Odesa Ukrainian

Mikhail Mikhaylovich VYACHESLAVOV

father

Trade Union Building

Yuliya LISOVA

Lawyer practicing in Kyiv

Mykhaylo TARAKHKALO

Lawyer practicing in Kyiv

52632/16

Berezovska v. Ukraine

26/08/2016

Neonila Leonidivna BEREZOVSKA 1953 Odesa Ukrainian

Leonid Viktorovych BEREZOVSKYY

son

Trade Union Building

Anatoliy POPOV

Lawyer practicing in Kyiv

53467/16

Brygar v. Ukraine

26/08/2016

Olena Borysivna BRYGAR 1979 Kalagliya Ukrainian

Volodymyr Anatoliyovych BRYGAR

spouse

Trade Union Building

Anatoliy POPOV

Lawyer practicing in Kyiv

59339/17

Babushkina and Others v. Ukraine

04/08/2017

Olga Vladimirovna BABUSHKINA 1981 Odesa Ukrainian Lyudmila Leonidovna BRYGAR 1962 Nadbuske Ukrainian Yuriy Vladimirovich DIDENKO 1968 Serpukhov Ukrainian Sergey Nikolayevich DMITRIYEV 1975 Tayirove Ukrainian Aleksandr Vikrorovich GERASIMOV 1978 Odesa Ukrainian Tatyana Sergeyevna KOVRIGA 1945 Odesa Ukrainian Irina Yevgenyevna LUKAS 1961 Odesa Ukrainian Marianna Ivanovna MISHINA 1985 Koblevo Ukrainian Aleksandr Vitalyevich NEGATUROV 1965 Odesa Ukrainian Vitaliy Yuryevich PETROV 1956 Odesa Ukrainian Irina Pavlovna PIDORICH 1976 Odesa Ukrainian Yelena Aleksandrovna RADZIKHOVSKAYA 1954 Odesa Ukrainian Valentina Petrovna YAKHLAKOVA 1940 Odesa Ukrainian

Anatoliy Andreyevich KALIN

spouse

Trade Union Building

Volodymyr Anatoliyovych BRYGAR

son

see above

survivor

sustained burns and other injuries

survivor

sustained burns and other injuries

survivor

sustained burns and other injuries

Nikolay Sergeyevich KOVRIGA

son

Trade Union Building

Igor Yerolovich LUKAS

son

Trade Union Building

Sergey Sergeyevich MISHIN

spouse

Trade Union Building

Vadim Vitalyevich NEGATUROV

brother

Trade Union Building

Anna Anatolyevna VERENIKINA

spouse

Trade Union Building

Nina Ivanovna LOMAKINA

mother

Trade Union Building

Andrey Gennadyevich BRAZHEVSKIY

son

falling from height

Petr Anatolyevich KAIR

son

Trade Union Building

Stichting

Justice Initiative, Utrecht, Netherlands

Egbert WESSELINK

Chairman of the Board

59531/17

Biryukova and Others v. Ukraine

04/08/2017

Lyudmila Ivanovna BIRYUKOVA 1946 Odesa Ukrainian Vladimir Ivanovich IVANOV 1952 Bilgorod -Dnistrovskyy Ukrainian Lyubov Petrovna IVANOVA 1956 Bilgorod -Dnistrovskyy Ukrainian

Andrey Vasilyevich BIRYUKOV

son

city centre clashes firearm injuries

Igor Vladimirovich IVANOV

son

city centre clashes firearm injuries

Igor Vladimirovich IVANOV

son

see above

Stichting

Justice Initiative

Utrecht, Netherlands Egbert WESSELINK

Chairman of the Board

76896/17

Gorenko and Others v. Ukraine

24/10/2017

Yevgeniya Viktorovna GORENKO 1978 Odesa Ukrainian Vladislav Nikolayevich YAVORSKIY 2009 Odesa Ukrainian

Viktor Nikolayevich YAVORSKIY 2011 Odesa Ukrainian Alena Anatolyevna YAVORSKAYA 1973 Odesa Ukrainian Raisa Igorevna ZHULKOVA 1941 Odesa Ukrainian Irina Georgiyevna PETROVA 1954 Odesa Ukrainian

Nikolay Anatolyevich YAVORSKIY

spouse

city centre clashes firearm injuries

Nikolay Anatolyevich YAVORSKIY

father

see above

Nikolay Anatolyevich YAVORSKIY

father

see above

Nikolay Anatolyevich YAVORSKIY

brother

see above

Aleksandr Yuryevich ZHULKOV

son

city centre clashes firearm injuries

Gennadiy Igorevich

PETROV

son

city centre clashes firearm injuries

Stichting

Justice Initiative

Utrecht, Netherlands

Egbert WESSELINK

Chairman of the Board

Andriy KARKISHCHENKO

Lawyer practicing in Odesa

47092/18

Marikoda and Others v. Ukraine

01/10/2018

Tamara Petrovna MARIKODA 1945 Odesa Russian Yevgeniy Ivanovich MILEV 1980 Odesa Ukrainian Lyudmila Vasilyevna NIKITENKO 1960 Odesa Russian

Ivan Ivanovich MILEV

son

Trade Union Building

Ivan Ivanovich MILEV

brother

Trade Union Building

Maksim Alekseyevich NIKITENKO

son

falling from height

Stichting

Justice Initiative

Utrecht, Netherlands Egbert WESSELINK

Chairman of the Board

Andriy KARKISHCHENKO

Lawyer practicing in Odesa

2467/19

Kushnaryov and Others v. Ukraine

11/12/2018

Oleksandr Vitaliyovych KUSHNARYOV 1953 Odesa Ukrainian

Nataliya Gennadiyivna KUSHNARYOVA 1954 Odesa Ukrainian

Fatima Raveyevna PAPURA 1974 Odesa Ukrainian

Yelena Aleksandrovna RADZIKHOVSKAYA 1954

Odesa

Ukrainian

Gennadiy Oleksandrovych KUSHNARYOV

son

Trade Union Building

Gennadiy Oleksandrovych

KUSHNARYOV

son

see above

Vadym Vadymovych PAPURA

son

falling from height

Andrey Gennadyevich BRAZHEVSKIY

son

Falling from height

Andriy KARKISHCHENKO

Lawyer practicing in Odesa

[1] For more information, see, in particular, Report of the International Advisory Panel of the Council of Europe https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168048851b

[2] See details in the Appendix below

[3] See details in the Appendix below

[4] See details in the Appendix below

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VYACHESLAVOVA v. UKRAINE and 7 other applications

VYACHESLAVOVA v. UKRAINE and 7 other applications

LEXI