Published on 13 October 2025
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 10572/24
Nataliya Mykolayivna VOLSKA
against Ukraine
lodged on 26 March 2024
communicated on 24 September 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns death of the applicant’s son, P.
P. was a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces serving in the zone of the so-called “anti-terrorist operation (ATO)” since 2014. He was wounded several times and had contusions. On 28 December 2016 P. was found dead in the restroom of a military hospital. That same day, criminal proceedings on suspicion of murder were initiated. On 12 January 2017 a special investigation conducted by a commission of P.’s military unit concluded that P. had inflicted the stab wounds on his own neck.
On 7 April 2017 the investigator discontinued the criminal proceedings due to the lack of evidence of crime; the applicant appealed. On 22 May 2018 a court quashed the decision on discontinuation due to incomplete investigation and failure to establish the circumstances of P.’s death.
On 1 October 2021 a forensic psychiatric examination established (i) that P. had been suffering from the exacerbated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which was the most probable cause of his suicide and (ii) that PTSD appeared because of his participation in combat operations during his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On 21 August 2023 the Central Military Medical Commission concluded that PTSD, stab wounds, and the death of the applicant’s son were connected to his military service.
On 28 November 2023 the investigator discontinued the criminal proceedings due to the lack of evidence of crime. The applicant did not contest this decision.
The applicant complains under Article 2 of the Convention that the State failed to provide P. with psychological rehabilitation, which resulted in his suicide, and that the investigation into his death had been ineffective. She also complains, under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, that the lengthy investigation delayed the award of pension to her as a family member of a deceased defender of Ukraine.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has the applicant’s son’s right to life, guaranteed by Article 2 of the Convention, been violated in the present case? In particular, did the State fail to comply with its positive obligation to take appropriate steps to safeguard the life of the applicant’s son?
2. Having regard to the procedural protection of the right to life, did the domestic investigation in the present case comply with Article 2 of the Convention?