Pavlo Petrenko: 6,000 citizens from the temporary occupied territories received documents through simplified procedure

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Ukrainians should address Ukrainian courts to obtain civil registration documents, yet there are certain requirements to actually get the documents.

Kyiv, June 16, 2016. Three months ago, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law on simplified procedure for registering civil status for residents of the temporarily occupied territories. This is about the procedure for issuing birth and death certificates to Ukrainian citizens. 6,000 documents have already been issued. This was stated by Pavlo Petrenko, Minister of Justice of Ukraine
at a briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “A person, who wants to get these documents, should address any Ukrainian court with an application that should include some evidence confirming the fact of birth or death. The application can also be submitted by close relatives, or even representatives of a person. The court must consider such an application immediately – within 1-2 days. Then the Civil Status Registration Office immediately issues a certificate,” explained the Minister. The application form can be found in the Civil Status Registration Offices. There one can also get advice on the procedure for its completion.

Now it is planned to introduce court fee benefits and to simplify the mechanism of marriage registration. Besides, International organizations, in particular, the UN Monitoring Mission recognize only Ukrainian documents.

Maryna Chervynska, deputy head of the High Specialized Court on civil-law and criminal cases, stressed that evidence is the most difficult issue. “What can be submitted to the court as proof of the child’s birth? For the Ukrainian courts any document issued by the institution of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) and “Luhansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”) is invalid and does not create any legal grounds, noted Ms. Chervynska. She explained that according to the European Court practice, in these cases it is impossible to deny all the documents and certificates issued in the occupied territories. That is why it is proposed to recognize, for example, medical certificates from hospitals along with other evidences.

Oleksandra Dvoretska, coordinator of legal section at NGO “Vostok-SOS”, noted that as to the fact of death, there are several interpretations to which court one should appeal. “It can be a court displaced to the place of residence. But we know that all courts in controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions are very specific. There are some courts that reject such applications. This issue should be regulated in the future,” she explained.