Oliyarnik and Others v. Russia and Ukraine

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 7475/15 Sergey Mikhaylovich OLIYARNIK against Russia and Ukraine and 22 other applications

(see appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 1 October 2026 as a Committee composed of:

Lorraine Schembri Orland , President , Faris Vehabović, Anne Louise Bormann , judges ,

and Uğur Erdal, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above applications against Ukraine and the Russian Federation 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,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of the applicants is set out in the appended table.

The applicants’ complaints emanated from the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine. Relying mainly on Articles 3 and 5 of the Convention, the applicants essentially complained that they had been unlawfully deprived of their liberty, subjected to ill-treatment, and held in inadequate conditions of detention.

The applicants were initially represented before the Court by Mr Marusenko, a lawyer practising in Dnipro. On 7 January 2026 Mr Marusenko informed the Registry that he would no longer be acting as the representative of the applicants in the proceedings before the Court.

The application forms indicated only the applicants’ postal addresses. Accordingly, on 25 March 2026 the Registry sent letters by post inviting the applicants to indicate, by 18 May 2026, whether they wished to maintain their applications. Their attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application. However, these letters remained unanswered.

THE LAW

Having regard to the similar subject matter and procedural history of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The Court notes that the applicants have never contacted the Court directly, neither before nor after the withdrawal of their representative. Furthermore, they have not appointed any other representative to act on their behalf before the Court. It must be stressed in this connection that Rule 47 § 7 of the Rules of Court requires applicants to keep the Court informed of any change of their addresses and of all circumstances relevant to their application. The Court considers that the fluid nature of the situation surrounding the applicants’ cases makes it all the more important for the Court to receive regular information and updates from the applicants (see Yuldashev and Others v. Russia and Ukraine (dec.), no. 35139/14 et al., § 14, 5 May 2020).

The Court is thus faced with a situation in which it is not being provided with any information by the applicants nor is it in a position to contact them, which makes it impossible for the Court to continue to examine these applications.

In light of the foregoing, the applicants may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue their applications, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention.

Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine , the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the applications (see Yuldashev and Others v. Russia and Ukraine (dec.), cited above, §§ 16-17).

Finally, the Court reiterates that under Article 37 § 2 of the Convention it may decide to restore an application to its list of cases if it considers that the circumstances justify such a course.

Accordingly, the cases should be struck out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.

Done in English and notified in writing on 22 October 2026.

Uğur Erdal Lorraine Schembri Orland Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints mainly under Articles 3 and 5 of the Convention

No.

Application no.

Case name

Date of introduction

Applicant’s name

Year of birth

1.

7475/15

Oliyarnik v. Russia and Ukraine

27/01/2015

Sergey Mikhaylovich OLIYARNIK

1990

2.

7665/15

Skibchik v. Russia and Ukraine

03/02/2015

Viktor Ivanovich SKIBCHIK

1993

3.

7674/15

Stepanov v. Russia and Ukraine

03/02/2015

Roman Andreyevich STEPANOV

1993

4.

7728/15

Yurchenko v. Russia and Ukraine

03/02/2015

Yevgeniy Yevgenyevich YURCHENKO

1984

5.

8124/15

Grushanyk v. Russia and Ukraine

03/02/2015

Igor Romanovich GRUSHANYK

1989

6.

8149/15

Usarov v. Russia and Ukraine

27/01/2015

Sergey Viktorovich USAROV

1984

7.

8152/15

Shaybler v. Russia and Ukraine

27/01/2015

Vasiliy Viktorovich SHAYBLER

1974

8.

9804/15

Vilorov v. Russia and Ukraine

20/02/2015

Sergey Sergeyevich VILOROV

1992

9.

10499/15

Stasyuk v. Russia and Ukraine

20/02/2015

Nikolay Stefanovich STASYUK

1993

10.

10504/15

Babchiy v. Russia and Ukraine

20/02/2015

Mikhail Mikhaylovich BABCHIY

1988

11.

11531/15

Linichuk v. Russia and Ukraine

26/02/2015

Vladimir Borisovich LINICHUK

1958

12.

11543/15

Gorobenko v. Russia and Ukraine

26/02/2015

Anatoliy Ivanovich GOROBENKO

1979

13.

12040/15

Dzhanbekov v. Russia and Ukraine

05/03/2015

Shevked Yakubovich DZHANBEKOV

1960

14.

12445/15

Sakhnyuk v. Russia and Ukraine

05/03/2015

Vadim Leonidovich SAKHNYUK

15.

14222/15

Kachkovskiy v. Russia and Ukraine

16/03/2015

Bogdan Pavlovich KACHKOVSKIY

1965

16.

18467/15

Kushnir v. Russia and Ukraine

06/04/2015

Sergey Nikolayevich KUSHNIR

1983

17.

19888/15

Knysh v. Russia and Ukraine

08/04/2015

Timur Stanislavovich KNYSH

1962

18.

24798/15

Korneychuk v. Russia and Ukraine

13/05/2015

Leonid Petrovich KORNEYCHUK

1969

19.

24803/15

Zhupnik v. Russia and Ukraine

13/05/2015

Oleg Vasilyevich ZHUPNIK

1980

20.

24807/15

Dmitruk v. Russia and Ukraine

13/05/2015

Yuriy Sergeyevich DMITRUK

1976

21.

24817/15

Dmitrenko v. Russia and Ukraine

13/05/2015

Viktor Anatolyevich DMITRENKO

1978

22.

24824/15

Nikishin v. Russia and Ukraine

13/05/2015

Yevgeniy Nikolayevich NIKISHIN

1986

23.

25655/15

Blaginin v. Russia and Ukraine

13/05/2015

Yuriy Anatolyevich BLAGININ

1978