The small town of Marinka has literally been living in the line of fire for 4 full years already. Very little has remained of a formerly prosperous district center with almost a ten thousand population – there are damaged buildings of administrative authorities, schools, a post office and shops. The town became a ruin.

Massive shelling of Marinka, which led to numerous fatalities among civilian population of the city, constitutes a war crime in the meaning of Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Furthermore, the facts that shells were fired on the facilities such as schools, hospitals, a museum, a post office and a town state administration are also treated as the breaches of the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law. Such shelling that can be referred to as terrorist acts caused multiple destructions and damages of civilians’ homes. Now, submitted to the European Court of Human Rights are the applications of the Ukrainian citizens who became victims of such crimes as there has been a violation of the right to peaceful enjoyment of the possessions as guaranteed by Protocol 1 Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Story of a city. Marinka: in the line of fire / Melamory Maris, general editorship – O. A. Bida, O. A. Martynenko / Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. — K., 2018. – 20 p.

Full report in English can be found  here

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