97-Year Old Woman Abased on Two Occasions the Supreme Court of Ukraine in the European Court

The European Court has found that pensioner Mariia Bochan was denied the right to a fair trial on two occasions due to the arbitrary decisions made by the Supreme Court of Ukraine. As a result, the State shall pay Ms. Bochan €10,000. Human rights defenders point out that “Bochan vs Ukraine (No2)” is the first decision of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) with respect to Ukraine. This is a hint to the national judges and government: “The decision of the European Court shall be abided by.”

For the period of more than 10 years, Mariia Bochan tried to prove her right to an apartment in a private house occupied by a squatter. The lower courts have ruled once and again in her favor, but the Supreme Court overturned the decisions. The woman, despairing in her ability to elicit the truth in Ukraine, filed a statement in Strasbourg.

The European Court found a violation of the applicant’s right to a fair trial and awarded her a reimbursement in the amount of € 2000.

The decision of the European Court was meant to be the basis for a review of the decision and a chance to correct errors made by the national judges in regards to Ms. Bochan. But, the Supreme Court failed to recognize the error and once again “bounced” the persistent grandmother, believing that would end the case.

It is important to note that, among the Supreme Court judges who made the decision, there were many distinguished jurists, including Yaroslav Romaniuk, the President of the Supreme Court, Anatolii Yarema, the Acting President of the Court, and Mykola Pshonka, the older brother of the well-known former Prosecutor General, and others.

However, the old woman, having decided not to give up and is seeking for justice, appealed again to the European Court. This time her case was considered by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, which considers only the most important and high-profile cases.

The decision was again ruled in favor of Ms. Bochan. This time the judges of the European Court quite specifically accused their Ukrainian colleagues from the Supreme Court of distorting the findings of ECHR and disregarding the right to a fair trial. The 97-year old woman should receive the reimbursement, this time in the amount of €10,000.

The European Court’s decision states that “by its [the Ukrainian Court’s] judgment as of March 14, 2008, the Supreme Court grossly misrepresented the findings of the Court stated in its decision as of May 3, 2007”

According to Maxim Shcherbatyuk, the Program Director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, the problem posed by the ECHR decision is extremely relevant because the Supreme Court is actually trying to use its own interpretations of judgments by the European Court. “This leads to the situation, when there are ECHR vs Ukraine judgments, which have never abided. The example of this case is very demonstrative because it shows the attitude of Ukraine when it comes to abiding by the judgements of the ECHR. It is important that the decision in this case was made by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice, which is another “reminder” for the Ukrainian authorities with respect to fulfilling of its international obligations,” – says Maxim Shcherbatyuk.

Shcherbatyuk is convinced that if the Supreme Court continues to act in the same manner, then it will be exposed to withering criticism by the ECHR. As a consequence of this, Ukraine may be deprived of not only the legitimacy of its constitutional state authority, but also tens of thousands of Euros from the state budget for payment of reimbursements to the victims of judges’ malpractice.

Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union