ECHR finds Russia responsible for human rights violations in Ukraine and for shooting down flight MH17

on 9 July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a ruling in which it found Russia guilty in the Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia case, considering a number of human rights violations by the Russians in Ukraine, as well as the shooting down of flight MH17 in 2014. This is stated in the decision of the court.

The case combines four applications at once. The first two concern human rights violations in the occupied territories of Donbass, including the abduction of children and their forced deportation to Russia. The third application was filed by the Dutch government in connection with the tragedy of flight MH17, and the fourth was filed by the Ukrainian government due to Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and subsequent human rights violations.

The ECHR court was the first international body to hold Moscow responsible for serious human rights violations that have occurred since the aggression began. Among the crimes committed by Russian forces, the court noted the killing of civilians and Ukrainian military personnel, torture, arbitrary detention, illegal displacement of people and punishment for the use of the Ukrainian language.

In addition, the ECHR found that Russia was responsible for the shooting down of flight MH17, the first official admission of its guilt in the crash that killed 298 people.

The court ruled that Russia is obliged to:

• Release or return all those unlawfully detained by 16 September 2022;

• Cooperate with international bodies to establish a mechanism to identify abducted children and return them safely to their families.

The Ukrainian Justice Ministry described the ruling as historic, noting its exceptional significance in international practice. The ministry stressed that the ECHR ruling recognised Russia as an aggressor not only against Ukraine, but also as a global threat to the international order.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also reacted to the ECHR ruling. The ministry stressed that it agreed that Russian aggression, which started with the occupation of Crimea in 2014, posed a threat to democratic values and international law.

We support the idea of punishing those responsible for human rights violations and stress the importance of establishing a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. Furthermore, we support the Commissioner's call to integrate human rights into post-war reconstruction, especially taking into account the needs of women, children and other vulnerable groups. We also note that the protection of human rights in the context of Russian aggression requires special attention, and it is important to take into account the needs of the country's defence. Ukraine continues to inform international organisations about any restrictions on rights imposed because of the war," the Foreign Ministry said.

For its part , the Kremlin said that "Russia is not going to honour the ECHR rulings on Ukraine's and the Netherlands' complaints against Moscow's actions, as it considers them null and void."

Flight MH17

on 17 July 2014, Flight MH17, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down in Donbass. All 298 people on board were killed. In 2022, the Hague Court found Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko guilty, sentencing them to life imprisonment and awarding compensation to the relatives of the victims.