European Court to force Ukraine to pay compensation to Odesa activist for poor investigation

Oleh Mykhailyk, a civil society activist from Odesa , has won a case against Ukraine in the European Court of Human Rights. The court found that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies ineffectively investigated the case of an attempt on his life, which violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

This is stated in the decision of the European Court of Human Rights.

Mykhailo was assassinated on September 22, 2018, in Odesa, when he was shot at, resulting in his clinical death. The bullet that remained in his left lung was removed only four months later. Three people are suspected of the assassination attempt, but the masterminds have not yet been identified. The case was suspended for some time, but reopened in 2020.

The European Court ruled that the Ukrainian state failed to ensure an effective investigation and did not use all necessary means to protect the activist's life. In this regard, Ukraine must pay Oleh Mykhailyk compensation in the amount of 6 thousand euros.

"When deciding on the fulfillment of the state's obligations under the said article, this obligation is not about the results to be achieved, but about the means to be used and which, accordingly, were not used in this case," the decision says.

In Munich, Germany, Mykhailo underwent surgery to remove the bullet from his lung. It lasted almost 5 hours.

According to him, the operation turned out to be much more complicated than expected, including by German doctors.

"The bullet was very deep in the lung tissue and still covered by the aorta. It was this aorta that was torn by the bullet after the shot, causing me a large loss of blood and clinical death. Therefore, German doctors had to open my chest and remove part of the lung along with the bullet. And the operation lasted almost 5 hours instead of the planned 2 hours," the activist described the situation at the time.

On August 1, the "Side by Side" charitable foundation opened plichoplich-shop, the first charity shop in Ukraine, which has analogues in only 2 countries. At the moment, only those IDPs who have been registered with the "Side by Side" charity fund in the past without any mistakes can become its customers. At present, these are 1800 people.

Ірина Глухова