Published on 28 July 2025
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 42857/20
Ruslan Dmytrovych PEDURYANU against Ukraine
and four other applications
(see list appended)
communicated on 8 July 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASES
The present applications were filed by three co-defendants in the same set of criminal proceedings which concerned charges of assault and robbery by a group of persons. The criminal proceedings terminated by a final decision of the Supreme Court taken on 17 August 2023 dismissing the applicants’ appeals on points of law against their convictions.
All three applicants complain, under various Convention provisions, that between 18 and 21 March 2019 they were ill-treated by officers of the Prymorskyy district police in Odesa, who forced them to give false self‑incriminating statements and that the investigation into those allegations was ineffective (applications nos. 42857/20, 11856/21 and 39463/23). It appears from the documents before the Court that the criminal proceedings into the applicants’ ill-treatment complaints were initiated in October 2019 and are currently ongoing without the applicants’ having been accorded victim status, been questioned, or having received access to the case file.
The applicants further complain, under Article 6 of the Convention, that the criminal proceedings against them were unfair on account, in particular, of the use of the above self-incriminating statements for their conviction (applications nos. 39463/23, 41924/23 and 41927/23).
The applicants in applications nos. 42857/20 and 11856/21 additionally complain that between 18 and 21 March 2019 they were arbitrarily detained without a court order and a record and that the length of their ensuing detention on remand, which lasted from 21 March 2019 to 12 August 2021 was not reasonable. They rely in this respect on Article 5 §§ 1, 3 and 4 and Article 13 of the Convention.
The applicant in application no. 42857/20 also complains that he has no enforceable right to compensation for his detention in alleged contravention of Article 5 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention in breach of Article 5 § 5 of the Convention and that his temporary dwelling was subject to an unlawful search (inspection) by the police on 18 March 2019 resulting in a seizure of his documents and belongings without a court order, in breach of Article 8 of the Convention.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
I. Common questions in respect of applications nos. 42857/20 (by Mr R. Peduryanu), 11856/21 (by Mr I. Kravtsov), and 39463/23 (by Mr M. Yurchenko)
1. Have the applicants been subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention, by the police officers between 18 and 21 March 2019, as alleged by them?
2. Having regard to the procedural protection from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment (see, in particular, Kaverzin v. Ukraine, no. 23893/03, 15 May 2012), was the investigation of the applicants’ relevant complaints by the domestic authorities compatible with the requirements of Article 3 of the Convention?
The parties are requested to provide copies of all pertinent medical records and procedural documents concerning the investigation of the ill‑treatment complaints raised by the applicants.
II. Common question in respect of applications nos. 39463/23 (by Mr M. Yurchenko), 41924/23 (by Mr I. Kravtsov), and 41927/23 (by Mr R. Peduryanu)
3. Did the applicants have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charges against them, as required by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
The parties are invited, in particular, to comment on the fairness of the use for the applicants’ conviction of their self-incriminating statements made between 18 and 21 March 2019, when they were purportedly held in unrecorded detention and subjected to ill-treatment (see, in particular, Zamferesko v. Ukraine, no. 30075/06, 15 November 2012).
III. Further questions in respect of application no. 42857/20 (by Mr R. Peduryanu)
4. Was the applicant deprived of his liberty between 18 and 21 March 2019 in breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention (see, in particular, Belousov v. Ukraine, no. 4494/07, 7 November 2013)?
The parties are requested to provide copies of all relevant procedural documents pertaining to the applicant’s purported detention during the aforementioned period and to the investigation of his relevant allegations of unrecorded detention.
5. Was the length of the applicant’s detention pending investigation and trial in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention (see, in particular, Ignatov v. Ukraine, no. 40583/15, 15 December 2016)?
6. Did the applicant have an effective and enforceable right to compensation for his detention in alleged contravention of Article 5, as required by Article 5 § 5 of the Convention (see, in particular, Rytikov v. Ukraine, no. 52855/19, 23 May 2024)?
7. Has there been a violation of the applicant’s rights to respect for private life and/or home guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention on account of inspection by the police of his temporary dwelling and seizure of his documents and belongings on 18 March 2019 (see, in particular, Zosymov v. Ukraine, no. 4322/06, 7 July 2016)?
IV. Further questions in respect of application no. 11856/21 (by Mr I.I. Kravtsov)
8. Was the applicant deprived of his liberty between 18 and 21 March 2019 in breach of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention (see, in particular, Belousov v. Ukraine, no. 4494/07, judgment of 7 November 2013)?
The parties are requested to provide copies of all relevant procedural documents pertaining to the applicant’s purported detention during the aforementioned period and to the investigation of his relevant allegations of unrecorded detention.
9. Was the length of the applicant’s detention pending investigation and trial in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention (see, in particular, Ignatov v. Ukraine, no. 40583/15, judgment of 15 December 2016)?
APPENDIX
No.
Application no.
Case name
Lodged on
Applicant
Year of Birth
Place of Residence
Nationality
1.
42857/20
Peduryanu v. Ukraine
16/09/2020
Ruslan Dmytrovych PEDURYANU
1989
Vakarske
Ukrainian
2.
11856/21
Kravtsov v. Ukraine
05/02/2021
Igor Igorovych KRAVTSOV
1994
Velykoploske
Ukrainian
3.
39463/23
Yurchenko v. Ukraine
18/10/2023
Maksym Ruslanovych YURCHENKO
2001
Velyka Mykhaylivka
Ukrainian
4.
41924/23
Kravtsov v. Ukraine
20/10/2023
Igor Igorovych KRAVTSOV
1994
Velykoploske
Ukrainian
5.
41927/23
Peduryanu v. Ukraine
19/10/2023
Ruslan Dmytrovych PEDURYANU
1989
Vakarske
Ukrainian