Implementation of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case “Polyakh and Others v. Ukraine“

Abstract

The article deals with the implementation of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case “ Polyakh and Others v. Ukraine”, which concerns the dismissal of civil servants in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Purification (Lustration) of Power” of September 16, 2014. It is noted that this decision had a large public impact resonance. To fulfill it, Ukraine must pay the debt collectors compensation and take additional measures of an individual nature; take measures of a general nature. The application of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case “ Polyakh and Others v. Ukraine” to the implementation of the compensation payment did not cause obstacles, just as there are no obstacles for the payment of compensation to debt collectors, since the funds for such payments are in a special budget program. The most difficult is the implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in terms of taking measures of a general nature: making changes to the current legislation and the practice of its application; making changes to administrative practice; provision of legal examination of draft laws; provision of professional training on the study of the Convention and the practice of the Court of prosecutors, lawyers, law enforcement officers, workers of immigration services, other categories of workers whose professional activity is related to law enforcement, as well as to keeping people in conditions of deprivation of liberty; other measures to be determined - subject to supervision by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The general measures taken by Ukraine to implement the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case “Polyakh and others v. Ukraine” have been analyzed. Attention is focused on the fact that, unlike the lustration laws of other Council of Europe member states, the Law of Ukraine “On Purification (Lustration) of Power” has a wider scope of application and is aimed at achieving two different goals - the protection of society from persons who, due to their behavior in the past can harm the newly created democratic regime and the cleansing of state authorities from persons who were involved in large-scale corruption. A legal assessment of the approach used by the state - preservation of automatic lustration - is given and a conclusion is drawn regarding its compliance with the norms of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950.

Keywords

• lustration
• power
• cleansing
• human rights
• constitutional responsibility
• sanctions