MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-42

2 December 2021

1419^th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)

H46-42 Levchuk group v. Ukraine (Application No. 17496/19)

Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments

Reference document

CM/Notes/1419/H46-42

Decisions

The Deputies

1. recalling that in these cases the European Court found principally violations of Article 8 on account of the State’s failure for many years to ensure the applicants’ enjoyment of their homes free from repeated harassment and violent disturbance; having regard to the similarities between the cases decided to join their examination and to continue the examination of the Irina Smirnova and Zhuravleva cases in the enhanced procedure;

As regards individual measures

2. noted that the applicant in the Levchuk case no longer shares her flat with her former husband and consequently no longer remains in imminent danger of domestic violence, but that both of them remain co-owners of the flat; invited therefore the authorities to continue monitoring the applicant’s safety and confirm the stability of her current living arrangements as well as to provide information about the outcome of the domestic proceedings reopened after the European Court’s judgment;

3. noted that the perpetrators in the cases of Irina Smirnova and Zhuravleva, notwithstanding the regrettable delay in instituting and conducting criminal proceedings by the authorities, have now been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment; noted that their shares in the applicants’ flats have been confiscated by the state in the course of the criminal proceedings; invited the authorities therefore to confirm that the applicants were restored in their rights to access their homes, should they wish to be, as well as to provide information about the payment of just satisfaction and requests for reopening of domestic proceedings, if any, in the case of Zhuravleva;

As regards general measures

4. welcomed the changes to the legislative framework introducing, in particular, measures to enable urgent reactions and temporary solutions in cases of domestic violence; invited the authorities to provide further information, including on court practice and guidelines, as regards the applicability of urgent injunctive orders and restraining orders to situations where individuals are not linked by any ties other than co-ownership of property and the procedures to follow in cases of continuing threat of violence after such orders expire as well as information about the effectiveness of the legislative measures introduced, supported by the relevant statistical data;

5. noted with interest developments in judicial practice concerning Article 116 of the Housing Code and invited the authorities to submit more examples of decisions demonstrating the consistency of court practice in eviction cases, in particular, as regards private joint ownership of property;

6. noted the provisions of the new Code of the Criminal Procedure which do not allow the
law-enforcement authorities to refuse to institute criminal proceedings; strongly encouraged the authorities to conduct further awareness-raising and capacity building measures related to protection against domestic and other forms of violence against women and invited the authorities to submit comprehensive information as to the impact of these measures, in particular, in situations of systematic harassment; invited the authorities to provide statistical information on the current average length of civil proceedings relating to social tenancy and domestic violence issues; additionally information should be provided as to the average length of the criminal proceedings in cases related to domestic violence;

7. encouraged the authorities to continue taking advantage of the Council of Europe’s cooperation programmes with a view to combatting domestic and gender-based violence and to explore avenues to strengthen safeguards in this respect in line with Council of Europe standards including the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention;

8. invited the authorities to provide information on the outstanding questions and demonstrating concrete progress by 1 September 2022.