Police and village chairman of Loshchynivka will be held responsible in the court for violence against Romani people

The Odessa Court of Appeal forced the court of first instance to start the consideration of the case of Romani people, who have suffered from demolitions in Loshchynivka.

As reported by Oleg Shynkarenko, journalist of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, in his blog on LB.ua.

As he recalls, on the night of August 27 to August 28, 2016, local residents started demolishing houses of Romani people in the village of Loshchynivka in the Izmail district of Odessa region. Police representatives have not interfered with the actions of demolishers and Viktor Paskalov, Head of the village, at a meeting of village community stated that “Roma representatives commit crimes in the village” and therefore “they must be evicted”. Afterwards, the chairman, together with his fellow villages signed the so-called “Decision №1 citizens’ of Loshchynivka village gathering”, in which they demanded the deportation of Romani people from the village.

According to Shynkarenko, on January 4 of this year, seven Roma victims appealed to the Odessa District Administrative Court with a lawsuit requesting to recognize the inactivity of the National Police of the Odessa region and the actions of the chairman of the Loshchynivka village council as unlawful, as well as collect compensation for moral damage. On January 10, the Administrative Court refused to consider this case, since, in its opinion this involves a criminal offense, which the Administrative Court can not consider because it is outside its competence.

On April 13, 2017, the Odessa Court of Appeal issued a ruling that reversed the previous decision of the Odessa Regional Administrative Court of January 10, 2017, and decided to send the case to the court of first instance for further consideration. In the text of the decision, the court stated: “The subject of the dispute in this case is the complaint about inaction of officials of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Odessa region, which is not connected with reporting about a committed or prepared crime, but took place under the direct performance of official duties for the protection of public order and failed to ensure the safety of Ukrainian citizens during mass events”. The decision of the Court of Appeal is final and can not be appealed.

“This decision does not solve the case on its merits, it does not decide whether the claims of the Roma are subject to satisfaction, and whether there was a violation. But now the Odessa Regional Administrative Court is obliged to consider our lawsuit. And based on the results of the consideration, the court will decide on the merits: either to satisfy the claims, or not”, – as Shynkarenko has quoted Yulia Lisova, a lawyer who cooperates with the Center for Strategic Affairs of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union and defends the interests of the victims in court.

The lawyer hopes for a successful resolution of the case, because, according to her, the Roma have a valid legal position: the police and the village chairman had to protect the Roma from illegal actions of village residents, but failed to do so. The police have passively observed how the Roma houses were being destroyed, although it is obliged by law to prevent such actions. And the chairman of the village council in general expressed publicly that he supports the eviction of Romani people from the village.

Yulia Lisova believes that Ukraine has a positive practice in dealing with such cases. For example, a trial on the inaction of the police during the riots in Gorky Park in Kharkiv. Lawyers of the Helsinki Union took part in the trial. The inaction on the part of the police was found illegal. Therefore, the process on events in Loshchynivka has good prospects.

As a reminder, at the end of August 2016, residents of the Loshchynivka village in the Izmail district of Odessa region demolished the houses of Roma minority community after a man of allegedly Romani nationality was accused of murdering a 9-year old girl. Furious residents of the village mainly demolished the houses of people who settled there 3 years ago. As a result, one house was set on fire, furniture and windows were broken in others.

Subsequently, the village residents demanded to evict all the representatives of Roma nationality from the village. Roma families were forced to leav Loshchynivka.

At the same time, Aksana Filipishyna, representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that the decision of the Loshchynivka village council of the Odessa region to evict Romani people from the village contradicts Ukrainian and international legislation on minority rights.