The court recognized that those events were largely caused by Russian propaganda, but at the same time it emphasized that there were also violations by Ukraine, which should pay compensation.
Despite the divergent views of the participants in those events, all claimants raised claims against Ukraine, primarily because of its inaction, emphasizing that the state could have prevented the tragic consequences.
Thus, the court noted that the Odessa police “did virtually nothing” to prevent the attack on the protesters, which took place with the use of firearms. In particular, it ignored numerous operational data on the preparation of the riots, the ECHR argued, citing available evidence of this.
The ECtHR also recognized that the local authorities, under the guise of “cleaning up”, deliberately destroyed evidence at the scene of the tragedy.
Taking this into account, the court found Ukraine guilty of violating the article of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to life. The Ukrainian state must pay 15 thousand euros of compensation to the relatives of each of the victims, 12 thousand – to the three plaintiffs who survived but suffered serious burns. The ECHR ordered the daughter of one of the victims to pay 17,000 euros, as she had been denied her father’s body for a long time.
