ECHR accepts Poroshenko case for consideration, legal team files two more complaints – lawyers
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has accepted for consideration the case of Member of Parliament and leader of the European Solidarity party, Petro Poroshenko, as reported on the party's website on Tuesday.
According to the politician’s defense counsel, Ilya Novikov, lawyers have filed two additional complaints. "The first concerns the appeal against sanctions imposed by President Zelenskyy against Poroshenko in February 2025. We have an official document from the Supreme Court stating that the court has already moved to the stage preceding a decision. We hoped a decision would be made on January 5 of this year. That did not happen. A process that by law should have been completed in 2 months has been ongoing for 15 months, and the next hearing is scheduled for June 30, but we have no guarantee it won't be disrupted as well," Novikov said at a briefing.
For this reason, according to him, the defense turned to the ECHR with a complaint regarding the violation of reasonable timeframes for proceedings. "The ECHR has already opened one proceeding in the context of this situation; we hope our new complaint will be attached and considered similarly, and proceedings for it will be opened very quickly," the lawyer said.
The second case, according to Novikov, is the "so-called travel ban," which concerns a Cabinet of Ministers decree prohibiting MPs—representatives of the legislative branch—from traveling abroad without an official secondment order.
"After Poroshenko's lawyers won this case in November and the decision of the 6th Court of Appeals entered into legal force, the Cassation Administrative Court, following a cassation appeal by the Cabinet of Ministers, stayed the execution of this decision, opened proceedings, and the case has been paralyzed for six months," he said.
Lawyer Ihor Holovan believes that under martial law, the authorities have gained additional levers to pressure the judicial system. "There is a practice where the ECHR recognizes that effective means of protecting judicial rights do not exist in a country. The fact of dragging out judicial processes beyond any reasonable timeframe is one of those cases where the ECHR intervenes and issues appropriate rulings," he said.
As reported, on February 13, 2025, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on the National Security and Defense Council decision of February 12 "On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)." According to the annex, sanctions were introduced against five individuals: Poroshenko, Ihor Kolomoisky, former owner of Finance and Credit Bank Kostiantyn Zhevaho, former co-owner of PrivatBank Hennadiy Boholiubov, and former MP Viktor Medvedchuk.
Poroshenko challenged the sanctions in the Supreme Court. On April 17, the court began considering the lawsuit in the presence of Ukrainian MPs, as well as diplomats from the European Union mission and representatives from the embassies of Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Lithuania, and Denmark. Poroshenko's representatives emphasize that the sanctions were imposed illegally on a citizen of Ukraine residing in the country, whereas only Russia considers him a "terrorist." Therefore, they argue there are no legal grounds for the sanctions.
