The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has drawn attention to Russia’s continuing human rights violations in occupied Crimea and urged Russia to stop breaching international humanitarian law.

Source: European Pravda, citing the press service for the Council of Europe, as stated in a decision by the Committee on the inter-state case Ukraine v. Russia concerning Crimea, adopted at the last quarterly meeting on the supervision of the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

Details: The Committee of Ministers called on the Russian Federation to restore the application of Ukrainian law in Crimea, to cease practices that violate the European Convention on Human Rights, and to release all Crimean political prisoners.

The Committee condemned Russia's violations of the Convention and international humanitarian law, such as ill-treatment and torture, arbitrary detention, incommunicado detention and enforced disappearances. Moscow is urged to stop these actions, to ensure that prisoners have access to independent legal advice and medical treatment, and to allow communication with their families.

Russia is urged to allow independent international bodies to monitor the health and conditions of detainees and to submit a list of detainees so that the Committee can monitor the progress of their release.

Moscow is urged to cease the practice of transferring prisoners from Crimea to the Russian Federation and to bring those who have been moved to Russian territory back to the peninsula.

The Committee called on Russia to end discrimination against and the persecution of Crimean Tatars, to ensure the right to education in Crimea in the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian languages, to stop the persecution of Ukrainian-speaking children and teachers, to lift the illegal restriction on freedom of movement between Crimea and mainland Ukraine, to cease and reverse the expropriation of property, and to ensure the legal possibility and adequate facilities for opting out of Russian citizenship.

"The Committee of Ministers invited the authorities of the 46 Council of Europe member states to explore all possible means to ensure the execution of this judgment, to ensure accountability for the serious breaches of international law established in it," the statement said.

The Committee of Ministers noted that Moscow remains obliged to execute ECHR judgments despite its expulsion from the Council of Europe.

Background:

• The president of the ECHR has stated that the consideration of interstate cases against Russia is a priority for the court. Currently, there are five such cases – four involving Ukraine and one concerning Georgia.
• In the case of Ukraine v Russia (regarding Crimea), a judgment has been delivered on the merits.

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