MOSCOW, November 26 (RAPSI) – The European Court of Human Rights has invited Russian authorities to submit its observations on an application lodged by Ukraine regarding Crimea, reads the statement of the court released on Wednesday.

The first application was submitted in March, it  concerns the events in Crimea from March 2014 and developments in the Eastern regions of Ukraine.

Ukraine alleges that Russia exercised effective control over the Republic of Crimea and over separatists operating in Eastern Ukraine, thereby creating a situation which resulted in numerous violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ukrainian authorities rely on a number of articles of the Convention, Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) and Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 (freedom of movement) to the Convention.

In connection with the application, the ECHR has called upon Russia and Ukraine to refrain from taking any measures, in particular military action, which might bring about violations of the Convention rights of the civilian population.

Moreover, Ukrain lodged last June another application which concerns the alleged abduction of three groups of Ukrainian orphan children and children without parental care, and a number of adults accompanying them. They were allegedly abducted by armed representatives of the separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine and subsequently transported to Russia.

Ukrainian authorities complain that the alleged abductions and illegal border-crossings were in violation of Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security), 8 (right to respect for private life) and Article 2 of Protocol No. 4
(freedom of movement) to the Convention.

The ECHR invited Russia to submit its observations on the admissibility of both applications within 16 weeks, and to comment in particular on the questions of whether the alleged violations fall within its jurisdiction.

In addition to these two applications, there are more than 160 individual applications pending before the ECHR, lodged against Ukraine or Russia or both. More than 20 of those applications are related to the events in Crimea, while over 140 applications concern the developments in Eastern Ukraine.