Russia is responsible for landing passenger planes in Ukraine, European Court of Human Rights Rules
The top European court of human rights ruled that Russia is responsible for widespread violations of Ukrainian international law, including the landing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, the first time that the International Court of Justice is responsible for Moscow’s human rights violations related to the conflict there.
Since the conflict began in 2014, judges from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) made decisions on Wednesday regarding four cases filed by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia. The charges include murder, torture, rape, destruction of civilian infrastructure, kidnapping of Ukrainian children in Ukraine and the killing of MH17 separated by Ukrainians, and the Russians separated from Russia landed.
The complaints were taken to the governing body of the court, which expelled Moscow in 2022 after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, the court can still handle cases against Russia, dating back to its expulsion, and the country is legally obliged to participate in the lawsuit.
The 501-page judgment also states that Russia’s refusal to participate in the proceedings is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is the basis of the court.
“We won’t comply with it, we think it’s invalid,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.
Relatives of the victims who were satisfied
The families of victims of the MH17 disaster see this decision as an important milestone in the 11-year search for justice.
“It’s a step to understand who is really responsible,” Thomas Schansman, who lost his 18-year-old son Quinn in the tragedy, told the Associated Press.
Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, using Buk missiles made by Russia in eastern Ukraine, controlled by rebels in eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers and crew were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens.
In May, the United Nations aviation agency discovered that Russia was responsible for the disaster.
Schansman also filed a personal case for ECHR, and he had no plans to stop the lawsuit, more than a decade after his son died.
“The worst thing we have is to stop fighting,” he told the Associated Press. “MH17 is not a case of Russia disappearing.”
The ECHR is an important part of the European Commission, the most important human rights institution on the mainland. Russia was expelled from the Council for Moscow’s invasion and war in Ukraine. However, the court can still handle cases against Russia’s deportation.
In 2023, the judge, beside a challenge to jurisdictions in Ukraine and the Netherlands, found sufficient evidence that the region of Ukraine, controlled by separatist rebels, was “under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation”, including the provision of weapons and political and economic support.
The decisions are separated from the Dutch criminal prosecution, with two Russians and Ukrainian rebels convicted of absent from multiple murders for their role in the landing of MH17 flights.
A Dutch court has sentenced three men to rule MH17, a Malaysia Airlines flight shot down in eastern Ukraine eight years ago. However, this crime stems from the current war breaking out in Ukraine.
The court said
Wednesday’s ruling will not be the last item for EHCR to handle the war. There are other cases against Russia in Kiev, and there are nearly 10,000 cases against the Kremlin.
Court President Mattias Guyomar read the decision before a crowded court in Strasbourg, France that Russian troops violated international humanitarian law in the war in Ukraine, attacking “the killing and wounding of thousands of civilians, causing fear and terror.”
The French judge said the judge found that human rights violations exceeded any military objectives, and Russia used sexual violence as part of its strategy to break Ukraine’s morale.
“Using rape as a weapon of war is an extremely atrocity and constitutes torture,” Gemal said.
Read the ECHR Jul 9 ruling:
In 2022, the United Nations Supreme Court ordered Russia to stop military operations in Ukraine when hearing the case, a process that would take years. Russia has violated the order by the International Court of Justice.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally approved a plan to develop a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials to fully invade Ukraine.
