Russia’s 2008 routing of Georgian troops from South Ossetia and its occupation of Abkhazia, and likewise, Ukraine’s Maidan protests of 2013-2014, had culminated in “state” abuses, ruled the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in twin rulings.
Guided by the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, the Strasbourg-based judges found Thursday that Russia —as occupier of the breakaway Georgian regions in 2008 — was responsible for “inhuman and degrading” treatment of detainees.
They also found that in late-2013 and early 2014, Ukrainian forces under pro-Russian then-president Viktor Yanukovych had used “excessive violence” to suppress initially peaceful protests, the court found — in one case, the torture and murder of a protestor left to freeze to death in a forest.
The ECHR ruled that Georgia’s complaint to the court was only applicable in the aftermath of Russia’s ouster of Georgian forces and occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, not during warfare.
Russian had later held control over the separatist regions, said the ECHR, and was responsible for ill-treatment and acts of torture against Georgian prisoners of war.
This included, said the ECHR, the “inhuman and degrading treatment” of 160 detained Georgian civilians. They were held in crowded confinement for more than two weeks in August 2008.
The ECHR said Moscow had had an obligation “to carry out an adequate and effective investigation” into those events.
Georgia’s current Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia described Thursday’s ECHR verdict as a “victory,” given that Tbilisi had pursued the case.
Separate ECHR ruling on Ukraine
In its separate ruling Thursday on Ukraine’s pro-Western Maidan demonstrations of late-2013, early 2014, the ECHR found the Yanukovych’s forces had used “excessive violence and unlawful detention.”
Yanukovych fled Ukraine later in 2014, into exile in Russia.
In five cases brought by 38 mostly Ukrainian plaintiffs who protested at the time, the UCHR found that the post-Yanukovych Ukraine had yet to pay compensation to some of the applicants.
Protestor Yury Verbytskyy, 50, froze to death in January 2014 after being abducted from hospital, being tortured, and then left in a forest outside Kyiv.
The court found there had been “a failure to conduct an effective investigation” into his abduction, ill-treatment and death.
In many cases, said the court, the [Ukrainian] “state had failed to investigate the alleged abuses adequately or with sufficient expedience.”
The ECHR said police officers on Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti square had repeatedly used force, including “stun grenades, tear gas, and plastic bullets.”
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Taking a stand
As the Maidan revolution pushed out the Ukrainian government, most of Kyiv’s police forces abandoned their posts. The revolutionaries, not wanting looting and arson to spoil the success of their cause, took it upon themselves to police the city. Wearing second-hand military surplus, these civilians from many professional backgrounds and ages are now the de-facto police in Kyiv.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Beyond the barricades
Governmental buildings were among the first locations to be protected by the Self-Defence Forces. Behind this group of men is the presidential residence, used by ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. The streets leading to it, and other institutions such as the parliament and central bank, are guarded 24 hours a day.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Resourceful revolutionaries
From a former women’s shoe store in central Kyiv, the Self-Defence Force organizes its patrols, recruits new members and takes complaints from citizens. Security for Kyiv’s 2.7million inhabitants is directed from these makeshift headquarters. Run by volunteers from across Ukraine, the shoe store now has a kitchen, sleeping rooms and a clinic for members and any citizens in need.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Fractured force
The Self-Defence Force was founded by current Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov to protect protestors from riot police. Now numbering 8,000 volunteers, they follow a charter that promotes “the European choice and unity of Ukraine.” Members are not officially allowed to mask themselves or carry weapons. However, most men flaunt these codes and groups are fractured under the leadership.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Right-wing elements
The extreme right-wing of the “Right Sector” independently guard Kyiv's streets without loyalty to the Self-Defence forces. Officially they “co-operate”" with other groups, but because of its superior organization, the far right operates its own policing efforts. The future role of right-wing groups in Kyiv remains unclear, but their inclusion in future Ukrainian governments seems assured.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Symbol of corruption
The Self-Defence Groups’ priority is the pursuit of “Titushki,” men hired by the Yanukovych regime to attack protestors in the Maidan. These men, viewed as traitors by the revolutionaries, are dealt with particularly harshly if found. The term “Titushki” comes from the name of a man who attacked a Ukrainian journalist, and became a symbol of corrupt leadership and censoring free speech.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Indiscriminate violence
A suspected Titushki (center, with hood) is led to a van by Self-Defence members after he was interrogated. Allegedly beaten with baseball bats during questioning, he was forced to wear a dog leash before purportedly being handed over to the police. Such incidents highlight fears over how much control the leadership really has and of a witch-hunt atmosphere taking root as groups vie for power.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Civil responsibility
In the Kyiv district of Darnytsia, “Dimitri” patrols the streets looking for signs of looting. Over 40 official units patrol the entire city. For men such as Dimitri, the revolution has offered the first taste of civil responsibility they have ever known, motivating him to ask his employer for leave of absence to police the community.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Taking control
Self-Defence forces direct the few police who are willing to be seen in uniform. Here two officers are instructed on how to monitor a checkpoint on the highway leading to the airport. The Self-Defence force combs the area for members of the Yanukovych regime attempting to flee the country. Self-Defence volunteers often joke that the police are forced to do more than just sleep while they work.
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Out in force: Ukraine’s Self-Defense
Growing force
Young men in mixed military kit with homemade clubs march through central Kyiv. Volunteers from other former Soviet satellites like Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Poland have also arrived to patrol alongside Ukrainians. “I'm grateful to Putin and Yanukovych for uniting our people against a common enemy. Even now Crimea is uniting us,” said one foreign volunteer
Author: Christopher Bobyn, Kyiv, Ukraine
One applicant had testified to having his head stood on, while another was beaten in a courtyard for “several hours,” the court said. Some complainants had endured “traumatic” injuries.
The court reiterated the right to freedom of assembly and said excessive force used against Maidan protesters had resulted in an “escalation of violence.”
There was “no information” that the protesters in their original aim of “obstructive, but peaceful” action intended to let it degenerate into violence, the court observed.
Over the course of the Maidan protests — in reaction to a suspension of a Ukraine-EU association agreement — some 200 people were killed, including 20 police officers.
ipj/rc (dpa, Reuters, AFP, AP)
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