The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a judgment in the case of Melikhov and Others v. Ukraine, which consolidated six separate applications concerning excessive length of criminal proceedings in Ukraine and the lack of effective remedies for this issue.The Court found violations of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial within reasonable time) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention in all cases. The proceedings in question lasted from approximately 3 years to 15 years, which the Court deemed excessive and incompatible with the ‘reasonable time’ requirement.The Court assessed the cases based on established criteria including the complexity of cases, conduct of applicants and authorities, and what was at stake for the applicants. Following its previous case-law, particularly the Nechay v. Ukraine case, the Court found no justification for such lengthy proceedings.
Key provisions:
- The Court joined six separate applications due to their similar subject matter
- The Court found violations of both Article 6 § 1 and Article 13 in all cases
- The respondent State (Ukraine) was ordered to pay compensation ranging from 1,200 to 6,000 euros to the applicants
- The compensation must be paid within three months and converted to local currency at the applicable rate
- Interest will be payable on late payments at the rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank plus three percentage points
