Next week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will begin a trial in the case officially called Ukraine and the Netherlands vs. Russia a.k.a the Donbas case.

Deputy Minister of Justice Valeria Kolomiyets explains in her op-ed Hear Donbas Out: What Ukraine Wants from Russia in the European Human Rights Court in Ukrainian why Ukraine has been trying to hold Russia responsible for years.

Ms. Kolomiyets writes that Russia has tried to postpone and extend the hearing on several occasions, using all sorts of legal means and circumstances. As a result, the hearing’s dates have been changed many times. The resignation of the Russian judge is the latest reason why.

Despite all these legal tricks, the hearing will take place on January 26th, 2022.

The court in Strasbourg will decide if the ECHR has the jurisdiction regarding the events in the temporarily occupied Donbas and Luhansk regions starting April 2014. Ms. Kolomiyets notes that this stage is important for the court to begin the examination of Russia’s human rights violations in eastern Ukraine and the claims of the Kingdom of the Netherlands relating to the takedown of the passenger plane Malaysia Airlines MH17 that resulted in the death of 298 persons.

The Ukrainian delegation will try to prove that Russia has a so-called "administrative practice" of breaching the European Convention of Human Rights and its Protocols during its occupation of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

Ms. Kolomiyets adds that Ukraine will provide facts that the Russian Federation has been directly involved in the occupation and human rights violations. Also, Ukraine will prove that Russia has factual control ("effective control" using the European Council’s terms) on the temporarily occupied territory of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

The green light from the ECHR, which Ukraine is hoping to get in the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands vs. Russia, will make it easier for private individuals and companies to take Russia to both ECHR and investment arbitrages, forcing Russia to foot its aggression bill.

Read more in Ms. Kolomiyet’s op-ed Hear Donbas Out: What Ukraine Wants from Russia in the European Human Rights Court in Ukrainian.