Europe’s top human rights court handed down a unanimous ruling yesterday that Russia was responsible for the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 and that Moscow had repeatedly and systematically violated human rights in Ukraine.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared that Russia had carried out indiscriminate military attacks, summary civilian executions, torture that included the use of rape as a weapon of war, plus the unjustified displacement and transfer of civilians, along with other violations.
Before the ruling was announced, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear that Russia would not abide by any court decisions, saying: “We consider them null and void.”
The ECHR is an international court of the Council of Europe. Both are located in Strasbourg. Russia was expelled from the ECHR in 2022, following its invasion of Ukraine. The next year, Russia’s parliament voted to end the ECHR’s jurisdiction in the country.
This week’s ECHR ruling declared that the “vast volume” of evidence before the Court had presented “a picture of interconnected practices of manifestly unlawful conduct by agents of the Russian State (Russian armed forces and other authorities, occupying administrations, and separatist armed groups and entities) on a massive scale across Ukraine.”
The ruling dealt with four consolidated cases. One concerned Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which, having departed Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur in July 2014, was brought down over eastern Ukraine as Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists were fighting. All 298 people on board died.
Moscow not only denies any responsibility for the downing of the flight, but denied any presence in Ukraine in 2014.
According to the ECHR verdict, Russia had failed to conduct an adequate investigation into the incident and had refused to respond to requests for information or provide legal remedies for survivors. This lack of cooperation and Moscow’s continued denial of any involvement has added to the suffering of the victims’ relatives, the Court said.
Most of the passengers aboard the aircraft were Dutch. Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp of the Netherlands, said he hoped the verdict would offer “a sense of justice and recognition.”
The three other cases ruled on had been brought before the Court by Ukraine. These related to pro-Russian separatists accused of abducting groups of Ukrainian children and transferring them to Russia, and alleged patterns of human rights violations during Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is now in its fourth year.
Ukraine’s Justice Ministry hailed the ECHR decision as “one of the most important in the practice of interstate cases”. Even though the Court is expected to rule on possible damages and compensation, in fact it has no way of enforcing its rulings. Since Moscow no longer recognises the Court’s jurisdiction, this week’s verdict is mainly symbolic.
