MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office demands that the shelling of Donbass and the murder of Donbass civilians by Ukrainian servicemen be recognized as violations of the European Convention of Human Rights in its complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, the Office press service said.
"A civil war, disguised as ‘anti-terrorist operation’ has been raging in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine for seven years. Indiscriminate shelling of settlements, the general use of roads and civilian infrastructure objects, including those supplying water, electricity, and gas, as well as medical and juvenile education facilities in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Right Sector, and other Ukrainian militant units, continue to extremely negatively affect the lives of civilians," the Office said.
The Office noted that killing civilians, including children, causing them bodily harm varying in extent, the use of intelligence services to persecute and intimidate citizens, the destruction of civilian residences and infrastructure via intentional and indiscriminate shelling are a serious violation of Article 2 ("The right to life"), Article 3 ("Prohibition of torture"), Article 8 ("The right to respect for private and family life and one’s home") and Article 1 of the Protocol 1 to the Convention ("The right to the unhindered use of one’s property").
"The intentional nature of the actions by Ukrainian troops, aimed at inflicting particularly severe suffering on the local population, is also demonstrated by the facts pointing to the intentional and consistent sabotage of the Donetsk Filtering Station, which provides drinking water to about 350,000 people," the Office said.
The complaint points out that "the civil war has created unbearable conditions for the lives of the people in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine and caused a wave of refugees."
People were forcibly displaced by the continuous shelling, the threats to their lives and health, and the complete cessation of critical services that support the life of communities: the absence of electricity and gas, food, and the shutdown of stores, in addition to the atrocities by the UAF, the National Guard of Ukraine, the Right Sector and other militant units of Ukraine, and by the destruction of residences during the hostilities, the document says.