Maksym Butkevych and Yevhenia Zakrevska win ECHR lawsuit against Ukraine's court ban on protests

Ukrainian human rights activist, Hromadske Radio and Zmina Human Rights Center co-founder Maksym Butkevych and lawyer, human rights activist Yevhenia Zakrevska won a lawsuit against Ukraine at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). They filed the lawsuit when the regime of former President Viktor Yanukovych used the courts to ban protests in Kyiv, reports Hromadske Radio, citing Maksym Butkevych.

“Later, Yanukovych resorted to a blanket ban on protests and peaceful gatherings. The tactic was that the court, at the request by the Kyiv City Administration, would manually ban a certain rally that was announced by activists. The Prosecutor General’s Office became the testing ground for this tactic,” said Maksym Butkevych.

He added that all other rallies would be banned along with the rally near the Prosecutor's Office for a certain period. For example, until the end of the year. The Prosecutor's Office argued that such rallies impede the work of their employees and that there is a school nearby and it is difficult for students to study when there is chanting and protests in the street. The Prosecutor's Office also claimed that rallies were inconveniencing the public and creating security risks.

“When at some point I announced that there would be a protest in defense of refugees that Ukraine was trying to send back to their country, I was told, in violation of due process, that it had been banned by a court ruling. I knew that it was impossible, because no one was suing. We learned that it fell under this blanket ban, which was in effect until the end of the year,” the human rights activist explained.

He says that in this way, Viktor Yanukovych's regime tried to turn Ukraine into Russia and only allow protests somewhere on the outskirts of Kyiv, so that no one would see the protesters. Human rights activists appealed the court ban on rallies and then went to the European Court of Human Rights.

According to him, the situation in Ukraine is completely different now. However, this ruling is important for those who might want to resort to banning protests through court in the future.

“This is a demonstration that this (the court ban on protests. – Ed.) is unlawful, wrong, and that these people will never stand their ground in court,” Maksym Butkevych stressed.

He called this ruling “an important safeguard for the future.”

Speaking about the compensation from Ukraine that the human rights advocates are entitled to, Maksym Butkevych noted that “there will be enough to donate to the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine and to various civil society initiatives.”

He added that this ruling was made possible thanks to the support of Yevhenia Zakrevska and lawyer Yulia Naumenko.

According to the ECHR ruling, Ukraine must pay 5,900 euros in compensation to Maksym Butkevych (as well as any tax that may be levied on this payment), and 9,800 euros in compensation to Yevhenia Zakrevska (as well as any tax that may be levied on this payment) within three months. The state must also pay Zakrevska 2,400 euros in court fees.