The European Court of Human Rights (the Court) has announced that it has received two applications so far that arise out of the Ukrainian protests. The first case is Sirenko v. Ukraine [3], lodged on January 28, 2014, by a protester alleging that he was “beaten up by special police units during a violent dispersal of protestors and then unlawfully detained on 30 November 2013.” The Government of Ukraine has been invited to submit “written observations on the admissibility and merits of the case.”

The second case is Derevyanko v. Ukraine [4], lodged on January 23, 2014, with further submissions received on February 19, 2014. This application was also filed by a protester who “complains that the measures the authorities have been employing to deal with the demonstrations have been in violation of his – and other protesters' – rights” under the Convention. As in the other case, the Government of Ukraine has been invited to submit “written observations on the admissibility and merits of the applicant's complaints.”