Extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour among accusations upheld by court in judgment

Russia has committed flagrant and unprecedented abuses of human rights since it invaded Ukraine in 2014, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour, the European court of human rights has found.

The court’s grand chamber unanimously held that between 11 May 2014 and 16 September 2022, when Russia ceased to be a party to the European convention on human rights it had committed “manifestly unlawful conduct … on a massive scale”.

Indiscriminate military attacks.

Summary executions of civilians and Ukrainian military personnel.

Torture, including the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Unlawful and arbitrary detention of civilians.

Unjustified displacement and transfer of civilians.

Intimidation, harassment and persecution of all religious groups other than adherents of the historically Moscow-aligned Ukrainian Orthodox church.

Intimidation and violence against journalists and new laws prohibiting and penalising the dissemination of information in support of Ukraine.

Forcible dispersal by the Russian military of peaceful protests in occupied towns and cities.

Destruction, looting and expropriation of property.

Suppression of the Ukrainian language in schools and indoctrination of Ukrainian schoolchildren.

Transfer to Russia, and in many cases, the adoption there of Ukrainian children.