Ukraine is one of the countries with the most lawsuits brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) - Judge Nikolay Gnatovsky, who represented Kiev in court, revealed to Ukrinform news agency on May 30.
ECHR, also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe, established by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court tries cases of accusations that a country has violated one or more of the human rights listed in the Convention or protocols to which that country is a member. Ukraine joined the European Convention on Human Rights in 1997.
Judge Gnatovsky said there are currently 8,000 pending cases at ECHR against Ukraine.
The complaints of Ukrainian citizens are quite typical; they are related to systematic issues that have not been resolved for decades, the judge said.
Judge Gnatovsky stressed that there are growing complaints about detention conditions in reform facilities, as well as trial timings in court, property rights recovery and obstacles to appeal.
The judge said Ukraine also has problems implementing judgments by national courts, including those by ECHR.
This raises questions about the states ability to ensure rule of law; if it does not enforce the courts final judgments, Ukraine will not be able to join the European Union (EU), the judge said.
The judge stressed that a candidate country to join the EU must have a national legal system capable of operating normally. "That candidate cannot be recognized if it cannot resolve long-term problems in the execution of court judgments," concluded Judge Gnatovsky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted an application for EU membership shortly after Russia launched its military campaign in February 2022. Later that year, Ukraine was granted EU candidate status.
At the time, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said that giving Ukraine the status of EU candidate was a "symbolistic message" in support of Kiev in the conflict with Moscow. However, he explained that true EU membership still has multiple more years left and Ukraine must first meet the blocs standards.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has never objected to Ukraine's ability to join the EU because Moscow does not see any military threat in economic cooperation between Kiev and international partners.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine's joining the EU would weaken the European Union and could eventually lead to the collapse of the bloc.
