FIFTH SECTION
CASE OF KOVALENKO AND OTHERS v. UKRAINE
(Applications nos. 22971/19 and 24 others –
see appended list)
JUDGMENT
STRASBOURG
28 August 2025
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.
In the case of Kovalenko and Others v. Ukraine,
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
Andreas Zünd, President,
Diana Sârcu,
Mykola Gnatovskyy, judges,
and Viktoriya Maradudina, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having deliberated in private on 3 July 2025,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
PROCEDURE
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.
4. The applicants complained of the life sentence with no prospect of release.
THE LAW
JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS5. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single judgment.
ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 of the Convention6. The applicants complained of the life sentence with no prospect of release. They relied, expressly or in substance, on Article 3 of the Convention.
7. The Court reiterates that the Convention does not prohibit the imposition of a life sentence on those convicted of especially serious crimes, such as murder. Yet to be compatible with Article 3 such a sentence must be reducible de jure and de facto, meaning that there must be both a prospect of release for the prisoner and a possibility of review. The basis of such review must extend to assessing whether there are legitimate penological grounds for the continuing incarceration of the prisoner. These grounds include punishment, deterrence, public protection and rehabilitation. The balance between them is not necessarily static and may shift in the course of a sentence, so that the primary justification for detention at the outset may not be so after a lengthy period of service of sentence. The importance of the ground of rehabilitation is underlined, since it is here that the emphasis of European penal policy now lies, as reflected in the practice of the Contracting States, in the relevant standards adopted by the Council of Europe, and in the relevant international materials (see Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 66069/09 and 2 others, §§ 59-81, ECHR 2013 (extracts)).
8. In the leading case of Petukhov v. Ukraine (no. 2), (no. 41216/13, 12 March 2019), the Court already found a violation in respect of issues similar to those in the present case. In the leading case of Medvid v. Ukraine (no. 7453/23, 10 October 2024), it further established that such a situation of uncertainty with a lack of any clear and realistic prospects of early release persisted until 3 March 2023 – the date on which the new release on parole mechanism became fully operational and offered the applicants the realistic opportunity to have their life sentences reviewed within the well‑defined timeframe and under clear conditions.
9. 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 the complaints raised by the applicants in the case at hand. They are therefore admissible and disclose a breach of Article 3 of the Convention from the respective dates of the applicants’ final sentencing to life imprisonment (see the appended table) to 3 March 2023. At the same time, the Court finds no violation of Article 3 of the Convention after that date.
APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION10. Regard being had to the documents in its possession and to its case‑law (see, in particular, Petukhov (no. 2), cited above, § 201), the Court considers that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction for any non-pecuniary damage that may have been sustained by the applicants.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,
Decides to join the applications;Declares the applications admissible;Holds that there has been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention in respect of the periods of the applicants’ detention between their final sentencing to life imprisonment and 3 March 2023;Holds that there has been no violation of Article 3 of the Convention in respect of the period after 3 March 2023;Holds that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction for any non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicants.Done in English, and notified in writing on 28 August 2025, pursuant to Rule 77 §§ 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court.
Viktoriya Maradudina Andreas Zünd
Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 3 of the Convention
(life sentence with no prospect of release)
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Year of birth
Representative’s name and location
Name of the trial court
Date of the life sentence
Judicial decision upholding the conviction
22971/19
03/04/2019
Oleksandr Petrovych KOVALENKO
1987
Kyiv Regional Court of Appeal,
06/10/2008
N/A
2875/21
09/12/2020
Maksym Pavlovych IVANOV
1983
Kovpakivskyy Local Court of Sumy,
18/12/2017
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
27/02/2020
38038/21
20/10/2021
Sergiy Oleksandrovych PANKIV
1980
Zarichnyy District Court of Sumy,
16/06/2020
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
21/04/2021
38194/21
19/07/2021
Volodymyr Volodymyrovych KYRYLENKO
1979
Kychenok
Andriy Sergiyovych
Kyiv
Kharkiv Regional Court,
21/06/2001
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
15/01/2002
44826/21
01/09/2021
Artur Volodymyrovych OSOKIN
1985
Dolzhko Vladyslav Vitaliyovych
Kharkiv
Court of Appeal of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,
12/10/2009
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
11/03/2010
44830/21
05/11/2021
Valeriy Vladimirovich KOZACHENKO
1978
Supreme Court of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,
22/03/2001
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
24/05/2001
46178/21
02/09/2021
Anton Oleksandrovych LISOVYY
1983
Dolzhko
Vladyslav Vitaliyovych
Kharkiv
Court of Appeal of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,
18/04/2008
Supreme Court of Ukraine, 24/07/2008
46359/21
10/09/2021
Yaroslav Petrovych GALANDZHOVSKYY
1987
Kychenok
Andriy Sergiyovych
Kyiv
Rivne Regional Court of Appeal,
04/10/2010
Supreme Court of Ukraine, 28/10/2010
49927/21
30/09/2021
Suleyman Seitovych SEYDAMETOV
1968
Voronyuk
Kateryna Yuriyivna
Rivne
Court of Appeal of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,
30/11/2007
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
29/05/2008
57533/21
08/11/2021
Sergiy Anatoliyovych KIRYEYEV
1969
Zaporozhets
Oles Volodymyrovych
Zaporizhzhya
Zaporizhzhya Regional Court,
05/02/1999
Supreme Court,
13/05/1999.
Death penalty commuted to life sentence by decision of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Court,
16/06/2000
58810/21
23/11/2021
Maksim Sergeyevich PRIDATKO
1986
Donetsk Court of Appeal,
01/04/2020
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
28/04/2021
58872/21
07/04/2006
Constantin Nikolayevich GEMU
1973
Kalmykov
Taras Oleksandrovych
Kharkiv
Odesa Regional Court of Appeal,
25/11/2005
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
16/05/2006
60258/21
24/11/2021
Oleg Mykolayovych GERASHCHENKO
1971
Zavgorodniy
Oleksandr Sergiyovych
Dnipro
Dnipropetrovsk Regional Court,
12/02/1997
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
27/05/1997
225/22
03/12/2021
Sergiy Oleksandrovych TRUTEN
1988
Oktyabrskyy District Court of Poltava,
17/07/2017
Poltava Court of Appeal, 23/07/2020
Supreme Court of Ukraine, 11/05/2021
1938/22
15/12/2021
Oleksandr Ivanovych SEMENIKHIN
1953
Court of Appeal of Dnipropetrovsk Region,
17/12/2003
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
30/03/2004
2950/22
05/01/2022
Valeriy Stanislavovych MELNYKOV
1967
Kyiv City Court of Appeal,
25/01/2012
Higher Specialised Civil and Criminal Court of Ukraine, 23/04/2013
6740/22
26/01/2022
Vasyl Fedorovych PASTUKH
1982
Dnipropetrovsk Regional Court of Appeal,
26/03/2003
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
08/07/2003
9944/22
09/02/2022
Andriy Stanislavovych NETYAGO
1968
Dnipropetrovsk Regional Court of Appeal,
14/05/2010
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
03/04/2011
25913/22
06/05/2022
Yevgen Oleksiyovych ZAKHAROV
1974
Voronyuk
Kateryna Yuriyivna
Rivne
Shepetivka Town-District Court of Khmelnytskyy Region,
05/05/2017
Supreme Court of Ukraine, 03/09/2019
26620/22
16/05/2022
Valentyn Gennadiyovych ZEMTSOV
2000
Amur-Nyzhnyodniprovskyy District Court of Dnipropetrovsk, 06/11/2019
Dnipro Court of Appeal, 16/03/2021
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
02/11/2021
28074/22
13/05/2022
Sergiy Sergiyovych GUSHUVATYY
1999
Ivanyuk
Oleksandr Oktavianovych
Chernivtsi
Kitsman Distrcit Court of Chernivtsi Region,
21/12/2020
Chernivtsi Court of Appeal of 30/03/2021, Supreme Court of Ukraine,
16/11/2021
31387/22
31/05/2022
Vetcheslav Mykolayovych GOLOVKO
1980
Tsyndra
Roman Andriyovych
Dnipro
Saksahansk Regional Court of Kryviy Rig, 22/08/2017
Dnipropetrovsk Court of Appeal,
23/11/2017,
Supreme Court,
02/04/2019
50137/22
12/10/2022
Vitaliy Mykhaylovych PRASLOV
1969
Zhovtnevyi District Court of Kryvyy Rih,
14/05/2012
High Specialised Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Matters,
02/04/2013
4416/23
29/12/2022
Romani Shotayevych KAKHIDZE
1984
Tokarchuk
Viktoriya Volodymyrivna
Odesa
Odesa Court of Appeal,
10/12/2021
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
30/09/2022
5244/23
29/12/2022
Vyacheslav Mykolayovych KOVALENKO
1980
Rybiy
Sergiy Mykolayovych
Dnipro
Kyiv Court of Appeal,
12/02/2004
Supreme Court of Ukraine,
06/05/2004