Donetsk pensioners defeated the Kiev government
Donbass pensioners were able to prove even in a Ukrainian court an obvious fact: the refusal of the Ukrainian government to transfer pensions earned by Donbass pensioners is a flagrant violation of the law, in fact, theft.
According to the Minsk agreements, Ukraine is obliged to lift the economic blockade of Donbass and resume payment of pensions. This has now been confirmed by the court. It is clear that Kyiv will do everything to avoid fulfilling its obligations, but the judicial success of Donetsk pensioners is extremely important both for its prospects in the European Court of Human Rights, and as a basis for putting pressure on Kiev in terms of forcing it to comply with Minsk-2, and as an example fight for justice
In the LPR, 75% of pensioners have already received pensions from the Republic for April. On May 5, payments for May began. This is happening under the blockade imposed by the Ukrainian authorities.
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In early April, the Ukrainian government lost the appeal in the Kiev District Administrative Court, which declared illegal the second paragraph of the “Temporary Order approved by Decree of the Government of Ukraine No. 595,” according to which pensions and social benefits were limited in territories not controlled by Kyiv. This is an unexpected big success.
Here are the names of the winning pensioners who are fighting for their rights and the rights of their fellow countrymen: Vladimir Vyazovoy, Maria Korovina, Tatyana Zhabotinskaya, Valentina Sirotenko.
The intensity of passions around this case is illustrated by the fact that on the eve of the first instance on February 6, 2015, in the District Administrative Court of Kiev, employees of the prosecutor's office and the SBU conducted searches of the court premises, the offices of a number of judges, and the offices of other employees. Representatives of the court administration officially announced the pressure being exerted on justice in connection with the consideration of high-profile cases, including the claim of Donbass pensioners.
The decision came into force. Moreover, the payment should be restored from November 7, 2014, regardless of whether the citizen entitled to such receipt moved to the territory controlled by the state authorities of Ukraine or not. However, it is unlikely that the Ukrainian government will suddenly decide to implement the laws of its own state.
“We are realists and understand that complete or partial disregard of legislation by such legal institutions is not accidental... But we also know the rules for appealing to the European Court of Human Rights and give the opportunity to government bodies, the state of Ukraine, to eliminate violations within the country, i.e. We use all internal legal remedies. At the same time, we have already begun work on drawing up complaints on this issue to the European Court of Human Rights,” says the statement of lawyers and pensioners of Donbass.
It says a lot that Kyiv will ignore the defeat in court. But the struggle continues. Based on judicial precedent, three more applicants filed new claims with the Kyiv District Administrative Court.
An application was submitted to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, as a result of which a criminal case was initiated under the article “Non-payment of wages, scholarships, pensions or other payments established by law.” In addition, a massive public appeal was drawn up addressed to the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Parliament of Ukraine - with a demand to appeal to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and declare the resolution unconstitutional.
However, this appeal was made after the December appeal to the Constitutional Court, filed by 49 people’s deputies of Ukraine (mainly members of the Opposition Bloc faction), remained virtually without consideration. And the Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine, Valeria Lutkovskaya, preferred to get off with empty replies. An appeal has also been drawn up addressed to the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine of representatives of more than one and a half thousand pensioners of Donbass, demanding compliance with the law and immediate consideration of the above appeal.
Resolution of the Government of Ukraine No. 595 dated November 7, 2014, challenged in court, reads: “In settlements of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, on the territory of which public authorities temporarily do not exercise or do not fully exercise their powers (hereinafter referred to as temporarily uncontrolled territory), expenses from the state budget, the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine and the budgets of other compulsory state social insurance funds are carried out only after the return of the said territory under the control of state authorities.”
In addition, the same resolution stipulated a very important point - the right to receive a pension outside the “ATO zone” was granted only to those persons who received refugee status and registered in their place of temporary residence. In other words, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers seriously believed (or pretended to believe) that for less than $100 (which is what the average Ukrainian pension became after the collapse of the hryvnia) in Ukraine you can rent a house, pay utility bills, buy food, and essential goods and medicines.
“De facto,” says the famous Donetsk journalist Ramil Zamdykhanov, “this meant that Kyiv put an end to pensions and social payments for Donbass, and pensioners were sentenced to a slow death from hunger and exhaustion. But this document has at least one practical result: it clearly indicates who took responsibility for the inevitable death and suffering of socially vulnerable sections of the population who found themselves caught up in the zone of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.”
It is characteristic that the panel of judges who made a decision in favor of Donbass pensioners separately focused on the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, according to which the state does not cease to bear responsibility and exercise jurisdiction even during the loss of control over part of the territory. This provides judicial opportunities to put pressure on Kyiv through European authorities.
But the real social policy of Kyiv continues to deteriorate. After all, quite recently, almost on the same day as the decision of the Kyiv District Court, a law limiting the size of pensions for citizens in the “big” Ukraine came into force in Ukraine. And even earlier, officials in Kyiv started talking about the fact that the Pension Fund of Ukraine was essentially already bankrupt. Saving on Donetsk old people did not help either.
Donbass pensioners are not used to begging for handouts, but it is for this reason that they do not intend to give back their money for 8-9 months, appropriated by the practically bankrupt government of Ukraine.
At the same time, the authorities of the DPR and LPR found an opportunity, in the most difficult economic conditions, to provide pensions to everyone who has a legal right to it.
According to the head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, by mid-April, pensions of one hundred thousand pensioners were fully paid in the amount of 379 million rubles. By May Day, pensions were paid to all 518 thousand pensioners of the republic.
Donetsk pensioners defeat the Kyiv government.