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Donbas residents have good reasons to file complaints with ECHR against Kiev — envoy

Judging by ECHR official data, more than 1,000 complaints have been forwarded to the court over the situation in south-eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Residents of Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region have every reason to file complaints with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the actions of the Ukrainian military, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov has told TASS.

"We believe that residents of Donbas as Ukrainian citizens have all rights and grounds to file complaints with the ECHR in accordance with the court’s procedural requirements," Dolgov said. "Judging by ECHR official data, more than 1,000 complaints have been forwarded to the court over the situation in south-eastern Ukraine."

Moscow hopes that "our public activities aimed at exposing the evidence of gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Ukrainian authorities and armed groups of radical nationalists can be useful for the ECHR when entertaining lawsuits of Donbass residents."

"We welcome and support any constructive efforts of human rights activists and non-governmental organizations that provide consulting support to residents of Donbass in the work with the ECHR," the diplomat said.

Russia will not allow to "sweep under the carpet" crimes committee in Ukraine

The international community should influence Ukrainian authorities to conduct effective, unbiased and transparent investigations of all crimes, Konstantin Dolgov told TASS.

"We continue to proceed from the fact that all crimes committed during the intra-Ukrainian conflict, including the Maidan ‘sniper case’, massacre in Odessa, events in Mariupol, crash of the Malaysian Boeing, large-scale humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine’s south-east, mass graves in Donbass and others, should be objectively and thoroughly investigated," Dolgov stressed.

"We proceed from the fact that more active involvement of international organizations and structures is needed for the process of finding the truth, such as the United Nations, OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe], Council of Europe, JCCC [Joint Center for Control and Coordination] and others," Dolgov continued.

"Those guilty in the aforementioned crimes should be found and brought to justice," he added. "Otherwise, it is hard to hope for national reconciliation in Ukraine," he stressed.

"This topic invariably dominates the agenda of our contacts with foreign partners at different international platforms," Dolgov said. "The Russian Foreign Ministry sent relevant addresses to leaders of several international organizations," he noted.

"We will not allow to ‘sweep under the carpet’ the crimes committed in Ukraine. We will continue to call for UN member countries, Council of Europe, OSCE members to actively influence Ukrainian authorities to conduct effective, unbiased and transparent investigations of all crimes and bring those guilty to justice," Dolgov said.