FIFTH SECTION
CASE OF GRYGORENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE
(Applications nos. 40298/23 and 3 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
3 April 2025
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Grygorenko and Others v. Ukraine,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Diana Sârcu, President,
Kateřina Šimáčková,
Mykola Gnatovskyy, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 13 March 2025,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
1. The case originated in applications against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on the various dates indicated in the appended table.
2. The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were given notice of the applications.
THE FACTS
3. The list of applicants and the relevant details of the applications are set out in the appended table.
THE LAW
4. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
5. The applicants complained principally that their pre-trial detention had been unreasonably long. They relied on Article 5 § 3 of the Convention.
6. The Court observes that the general principles regarding the right to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial, as guaranteed by Article 5 § 3 of the Convention, have been stated in a number of its previous judgments (see, among many other authorities, Kudła v. Poland [GC], no. 30210/96, § 110, ECHR 2000‑XI, and McKay v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 543/03, §§ 41-44, ECHR 2006‑X, with further references).
7. In the leading cases of Kharchenko v. Ukraine (no. 40107/02, 10 February 2011) and Ignatov v. Ukraine (no. 40583/15, 15 December 2016), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case.
8. Having examined all the material submitted to it, the Court has not found any fact or argument capable of persuading it to reach a different conclusion on the admissibility and merits of these complaints. Having regard to its case-law on the subject, the Court considers that in the instant case the length of the applicants’ pre-trial detention was unreasonably lengthy.
9. These complaints are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention.
10. Some applicants also raised other complaints under various Articles of the Convention.
11. The Court has examined these complaints and considers that, in the light of all the material in its possession and in so far as the matters complained of are within its competence, these complaints either do not meet the admissibility criteria set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention or do not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.
It follows that this part of the applications must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 § 4 of the Convention.
12. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Ignatov, cited above), the Court considers it reasonable to award the sums indicated in the appended table.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
(a) that the respondent State is to pay the applicants, within three months, the amounts indicated in the appended table, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement;
(b) that from the expiry of the above-mentioned three months until settlement simple interest shall be payable on the above amounts at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points.
Done in English, and notified in writing on 3 April 2025, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Diana Sârcu
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention
(excessive length of pre-trial detention)
Application no. Date of introduction | Applicant’s name Year of birth
| Representative’s name and location | Period of detention | Length of detention | Specific defects | Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage per applicant (in euros)[1] | Amount awarded for costs and expenses per application (in euros)[2] | |
40298/23 25/10/2023 | Oleksandr Anatoliyovych GRYGORENKO 1988
| Romanyuk Valeriy Illich Chernivtsi | 02/08/2019 pending | More than 5 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 26 day(s)
| failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint; use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice | 3,000 | 250 | |
1119/24 26/12/2023 | Leonid Leonidovych KOTSENKO 1980
|
| 30/11/2015 to 23/06/2017
25/09/2018 to 20/05/2021
11/02/2022 pending | 1 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 25 day(s)
2 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 26 day(s)
More than 3 year(s) and 17 day(s)
| fragility of the reasons employed by the courts; lack of diligence on behalf of the authorities while extending his detention | 3,000 | - | |
2589/24 02/01/2024 | Roman Volodymyrovych SAVONYUK 2003
|
| 08/07/2022 to 01/02/2024 | 1 year(s) and 6 month(s) and 25 day(s)
| use of assumptions, in the absence of any evidentiary basis, of the risks of absconding or obstructing justice; failure to assess the applicant’s personal situation reducing the risks of re-offending, colluding or absconding; fragility and repetitiveness of the reasoning employed by the courts as the case progressed; failure to examine the possibility of applying other measures of restraint | 1,000 | - | |
10680/24 01/02/2024 | Ivan Olegovych MOTSNYY 1981
| Voronyuk Kateryna Yuriyivna Rivne | 15/08/2018 to 03/04/2024 | 5 year(s) and 7 month(s) and 20 day(s)
| failure to conduct the proceedings with due diligence during the period of detention; fragility and repetitiveness of the reasoning employed by the courts as the case progressed | 3,000 | 250 |
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
[2] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.