Tragedy in Odesa on 2 May 2014: ECHR finds Ukraine guilty, but recognises Russia’s influence
The European Court of Human Rights recognised that the events in Odesa on 2 May 2014 were largely caused by Russian propaganda. It also highlighted violations by the Ukrainian state, which must pay compensation.
According to Censor.NET, citing European Pravda, the ECHR has issued a large-scale decision on a number of claims regarding the state's inaction during the clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists in Odesa on 2 May 2014.
The decision of the ECHR, a court based in Strasbourg and a member of the Council of Europe, concerns the events of 2 May 2014, which began with an attack by pro-Russian separatists from the so-called "anti-Maidan" movement on pro-Ukrainian demonstrators. The clashes and killings of pro-Ukrainian marchers later led to the demonstrators storming the anti-Maidan camp on Kulikovo Pole and a fire in the Trade Union Building, which killed several dozen "anti-Maidan" supporters.
The relatives of the 25 people killed that day, as well as three survivors of the fire, filed several lawsuits in Strasbourg. Among the plaintiffs are relatives of 5 pro-Ukrainian activists who died of gunshot wounds. The rest are members of the ‘anti-Maidan’ group and relatives of the victims who were trapped in the burning Trade Union Building. However, the Court stressed that it did not identify them by ideological preferences.
Despite the differences in the views of the participants in those events, all the plaintiffs made claims against Ukraine, primarily because of its inaction, stressing that the state could have prevented the tragic consequences.
However, the court repeatedly emphasised in the body of the judgment and in its conclusions that Russia and its activities to destabilise Ukraine were the primary culprit.
"The Court finds that disinformation and propaganda by Russia played a role in the tragic events... The unjustified wave of violence was preceded by the constant dissemination of aggressive and emotionally charged disinformation and propaganda about the new Ukrainian government and Maidan supporters by the Russian authorities and media," the judgment reads.
Another point that the court decided to emphasise was that many of the Odesa officials responsible for Ukraine's violations soon "fled to Russia, obtained Russian citizenship and even built careers there amid Russia's large-scale military invasion of Ukraine".
Nevertheless, this does not absolve Ukraine as a state of responsibility, the ECHR said. The Court also stressed that even afterwards, Ukraine did not try to prosecute in good faith the officials whose actions led to numerous victims.
Thus, the Court stressed that the Odesa police "did virtually nothing" to prevent the attack on the protesters, which was carried out with the use of firearms. In particular, the Odesa police ignored numerous operational data on the preparation of riots, the ECHR argues, citing available evidence.
"The main duty of the authorities was to do everything possible to prevent the risk of violence," the court said, stressing that the fact that the Ukrainian authorities were weak against the backdrop of Russian aggression in Crimea and Donbas did not deprive the state of the opportunity to act. The deputy head of the regional police, Volodymyr Fuchedzhy, subsequently fled to Russia.
The Court also considered it proven that "the delivery of fire trucks to the scene of the fire was deliberately delayed for 40 minutes, and the police did not intervene to help evacuate people" from the Trade Union Building. The head of the regional department of the State Emergency Service, Volodymyr Bodelan, who personally gave the order not to send fire trucks to extinguish the fire, fled to Russia two years later, but during his stay in Odesa, no criminal proceedings were even initiated against him.
The ECHR also recognised that local authorities deliberately destroyed evidence at the site of the tragedy under the guise of "cleaning up".
In view of this, the Court found Ukraine guilty of violating the right to life article of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Ukrainian state must pay 15,000 euros in compensation to the relatives of each of the victims, and 12,000 euros to the three plaintiffs who survived but suffered serious burns. The highest compensation, 17,000 euros, will be paid to the daughter of Mykhailo Viacheslavov, who burned to death in the Trade Union Building, as she also complained about the authorities' unreasonable and prolonged refusal to give her her father's body for burial.
Russia was not a party to the plaintiffs' complaints.
As a reminder, on 2 May 2014, 48 people were killed and more than 200 injured in Odesa during the riots. Most of them died in a fire in the Trade Union Building. Law enforcement agencies have opened about a dozen criminal proceedings related to various facts. One of the most high-profile of these is the case of the events on Hretska Square, where the first clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists took place.
