To absolutely no-one’s surprise, in Ukraine and The Netherlands v Russia [2025] ECHR (Applications nos. 8019/16, 43800/14, 28525/20 and 11055/22) the Grand Chamber agreed with the applicant states’ allegation that Russia had perpetrated multiple, flagrant and unprecedented violations of the Convention in Ukraine.

The judgment is extremely comprehensive, covering violations of almost every Article of the Convention, and extremely long. As to religion and Article 9 specifically, the Ukrainian Government complained of the following breaches from 11 May 2014 onwards:

“a.  the abduction and illegal imprisonment of religious leaders and adherents of minority religious groups;

b. the establishment and implementation of a discriminatory and impermissible system of mandatory registration for religious groups which has resulted in the prohibition of most minority denominations and the unjustified banning of religious publications;

c. the intimidation, harassment and persecution of minority religious groups and their members;

d. the confiscation and seizure of places of worship and other religious facilities belonging to minority religious groups of all faiths; and

e. interference with community worship and other forms of the collective manifestation of faith by minority religious groups;” [1185].

Specifically, the Ukrainian Government alleged that since its invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014, the Russian Federation and the separatists under its control had committed widespread violations of the right to freedom of religion and belief, and that, following Russia’s invasion in February 2022, its illegal practices had intensified and extended into other occupied areas of Ukraine [1188].

Since the occupation of the Donbas in 2014 there had been widespread persecution, intimidation and mistreatment directed at religious groups and religious figures of all faiths and denominations – with the notable exception of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (“UOC-MP”), which had been formally designated by the authorities in both the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Lugansk People’s Republic” as the dominant religion. The ability of members of all other religious groups to express their faith by attending their places of worship or practising with their community of co-believers had been seriously and consistently undermined. The targeting of religious figures not belonging to the UOC-MP had continued in the period following Russia’s full-scale invasion [1189]. The violations had included the abduction and forcible mistreatment of members of religious organisations, persecution and intimidation of religious groups, banning and deregistering minority religious denominations, seizure and confiscation of places of worship and religious materials, interference with religious worship, pejorative statements by public officials and, after 24 February 2022, destruction of places of worship and religious facilities [1190]. The interferences had not been necessary or proportionate and did not comply with the general principle of lawfulness or with international law. They had been carried out as part of military operations and occupation which were themselves unlawful under international law and were incompatible with the requirements of international humanitarian law [1191]. The Russian Government did not take part in the present proceedings on the merits of application [1192].

The Grand Chamber concluded that there had been

“an accumulation of identical or analogous breaches of Article 9 of the Convention between 11 May 2014 to 16 September 2022 which are sufficiently numerous and interconnected to amount to a pattern or system of intimidation, harassment and persecution of religious groups aside from the UOC-MP. For the reasons set out below, there is no doubt that the violations of Article 9 described were officially tolerated by the superiors of the perpetrators and by the higher authorities of the respondent State” [1276].

It concluded that the Russian Federation had been responsible for the intimidation, harassment and persecution of religious groups other than the UOC-MP in occupied areas of Ukraine, in violation of Article 9, between 11 May 2014 and 16 September 2022 [1277].