The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has obliged Ukraine to pay compensations to five former officials dismissed under the government cleansing (lustration) law due to violation of their rights in the country and admitted that the law on government cleansing differs from lustration laws adopted in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe in that it is broader in scope.
The court made the decision on October 17 after hearing claims of five Ukrainian citizens, the press service of the ECHR reported.
Former deputy chief of human resources department of Prosecutor General’s Office Vyacheslav Polyakh, former first deputy chief of the investigative department of the Income and Tax Ministry in Mykolaiv region Dmytro Basalayev, former deputy prosecutor of Chernihiv region Oleksandr Yas, ex-head if tax inspectorate in Yaremche of the main department of the Income and Tax Ministry in Ivano-Frankivsk region Roman Yakubovskyy, and former deputy head of the agriculture department of Oleksandrivka district administration in Donetsk region Sergiy Bondarenko filed the claims.
The first two applicants were dismissed in line with the lustration law in October 2014. The applicants’ conduct consisted in remaining in their positions while President Yanukovych was in power. The fourth applicant was dismissed as he filed his government cleansing act statement, not on time, and the fifth was dismissed on the grounds that he declared that in 1990 to 1991 he had occupied the position of the second secretary of the district department of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR.
All applicants complained of their dismissal and consequences it aroused (Article 8 of the Convention – Right to respect for private and family life). The first three applicants, referring to various guarantees outlined in Article 6 of the Convention (right to a fair trial) complained that Ukrainian national courts refused to hear their claims.
According to the decision of the ECHR, the court held that there has been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in respect of the first three applicants; and there has been a violation of Article 8 of the Convention in respect of all applicants.
