ECHR requests information on the situation of Ukrainians at Verkhniy Lars

The European Court of Human Rights has launched an urgent procedure to protect the rights of Ukrainians who have been waiting for months to pass through the border with Georgia after being deported from Russia. After being evacuated from the checkpoint, the Ukrainians have been standing in the back of a car for six hours without food or water under armed guard.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, the checkpoint and customs points on the Russian-Georgian border were closed on the evening of July 31 after a landslide threat signal, and people were evacuated from the checkpoint area. The Ukrainians, who were not allowed into Georgia, have been standing in the back of a car for five hours after being evacuated , volunteers reported.

The European Court has initiated proceedings against Georgia and Ukraine under Rule 39 in connection with the situation on the Russian-Georgian border, where about 100 Ukrainian citizens are located. The court requires Georgia and Ukraine to provide detailed information by August 6, 2025, on the current location of the applicants, the risks, the conditions of their detention, access to assistance, the possibility of returning to Ukraine and the actions of the Ukrainian authorities to ensure their right of entry, Novosti-Gruzia reported on July 31.

Rule 39 of the ECHR provides for the introduction of urgent interim measures if there is a threat of irreparable harm to a person's life and health, and all national remedies have been exhausted. According to a statement by the public organization "Protection of Prisoners of Ukraine", among the deported Ukrainians stuck on the Georgian border without documents, there are seriously ill people and people with disabilities. One of them, a 61-year-old former prisoner, forcibly transported to the Krasnodar Territory from a colony in the Kherson region in 2022, is partially paralyzed after a stroke and is in extremely serious condition, receiving no medical care. Some of the Ukrainians at the border have injured themselves in protest against the inhumane conditions of detention.

Activists from the Tbilisi Volunteers group, who were trying to deliver food and water to the Ukrainians evacuated from the checkpoint on the evening of July 31, were unable to enter the area near the border, which remains closed after a landslide hazard signal. "Closer to the sixth hour of continuous standing, like during rush hour in the subway, but in the back of trucks, the Ukrainians report that the police have been given weapons. Now they are guarded by an armed cordon," the Tbilisi life Telegram channel reported.

According to the channel, there are 90-95 people in the car, who are not given water or food by the authorities. "Why not take them to a migration center? To a migration prison? When did the concept of humanity disappear in Georgia?!" the author of the publication is indignant.

On July 26, the coalition of public organizations and groups from OSCE countries, the Civic Solidarity Platform, called on the UN Secretary General to exert diplomatic pressure on the Georgian authorities and apply emergency procedures under international law in connection with the situation in which Ukrainian citizens find themselves on the border with Georgia. Russian authorities are expelling Ukrainians who refused to accept Russian citizenship in the territories controlled by Russian troops to the border with Georgia, so the number of people waiting to pass through Verkhniy Lars is increasing, human rights activists noted.

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