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  • European court makes history: Russia guilty of Ukraine human rights violations since 2014 and plane downing MH17
    The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a landmark ruling on 9 July, finding Russia responsible for widespread human rights violations during its war against Ukraine and the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Why does this matter? It’s the first time an international court has held Moscow accountable for human rights violations since Russia’s invasion began in 2014. The case combined four separate legal challenges into one massive proceeding. Ukraine filed complaint
     

European court makes history: Russia guilty of Ukraine human rights violations since 2014 and plane downing MH17

9 juillet 2025 à 11:49

Snapshot of animation released by the Dutch Safety Board in October 2015 as it published its report into the MH17 airplane tragedy which showed that a Russian-made and provided missile was responsible for the aircrash.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a landmark ruling on 9 July, finding Russia responsible for widespread human rights violations during its war against Ukraine and the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Why does this matter? It’s the first time an international court has held Moscow accountable for human rights violations since Russia’s invasion began in 2014.

The case combined four separate legal challenges into one massive proceeding. Ukraine filed complaints about systematic abuses in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, including something particularly disturbing: the kidnapping of children from orphanages and their deportation to Russia. The Netherlands joined with its own application over MH17. Then Ukraine added a fourth complaint covering violations since the 2022 full-scale invasion.

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What did the court actually find? The Russian violations include:

  • killings of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers
  • torture
  • arbitrary detention
  • forced displacement through so-called “filtration” camps
  • systematic suppression of the Ukrainian language.

But here’s what makes this ruling unprecedented: 26 countries and an international organization joined as third parties. That level of international backing is extraordinary.

Ukrainian judge Mykola Hnatovskyi put it bluntly: this is “probably the largest and most important case in the entire history of the ECHR.”

Ukraine’s lawyers forge unprecedented international case against Russia for decade

Behind this landmark ruling lies years of painstaking legal work. Marharyta Sokorenko, the Commissioner for ECHR Affairs at Ukraine’s Justice Ministry, called the case “the culmination of a long and thorny path of fierce legal confrontation for law and truth.”

How grueling was the process? Sokorenko described it as “the result of more than ten years of complex work, sometimes ‘on the edge’ and ‘this is the last time,’ by the entire team.” She added that Ukrainian lawyers “were pioneers in forming the interstate lawsuit and evidence base.”

For the legal team, this wasn’t just another case. “For each of us, this case goes far beyond official duties,” Sokorenko wrote on Facebook ahead of the ruling.

Russia missile attack killed 298 people in MH17 air crash

On 17 July 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-supplied Buk missile. All 298 passengers and crew members died, including 196 Dutch nationals—making it one of the deadliest aviation disasters in Dutch history.

The human cost extends far beyond the immediate tragedy. A decade later, research by Professor Jos de Keijser from the University of Groningen reveals that one in eight families of the victims still struggle with severe, chronic grief. These survivors face insomnia, depression, PTSD, and concentration problems that persist years after the disaster.

MH-17
Local workers transport a piece of wreckage from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 at the site of the plane crash near the village of Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine 20 November 2014. Credit: REUTERS/Antonio Bronic/File Photo

Remains of Malaysia Airline Flight MH-17
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Russia controlled part of Ukraine where plane was hit

For nearly a decade, families of the 298 people killed when MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine waited for justice. Now they have it—sort of.

The European court determined Russia was responsible for downing the Malaysia Airlines flight on 17 July 2014. This marks the first international judicial finding holding Russia accountable for the disaster.

Putin. MH17: The blood on his hands. (Political cartoon by Ramirez, 2014)
Putin. MH17: The blood on his hands. (Political cartoon by Ramirez, 2014)

How solid is the evidence? A Joint Investigation Team from five countries spent years building the case. Last November, a Dutch court sentenced three men to life imprisonment: Russians Igor Girkin-Strelkov and Sergey Dubinsky, plus Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko. They remain out of prison because Russia has refused to extradite its citizens. The court also ordered over €16 million in compensation to victims’ families.

Igor Girkin-Strelkov is a Russian former intelligence officer and military commander who led pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dutch court for his role in the MH17 downing.

Crucially, during that verdict reading, The Hague District Court also recognized that Russia controlled the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” from at least May 2014—months before MH17 was destroyed.

Netherlands Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans called the ECHR decision “an important step toward justice.”

“The suffering of the relatives of MH-17 is immense, intensified by Russia’s denial. Now the European Court confirms what we have known for 10 years: Russia is responsible. I hope it contributes to processing the grief,” Brekelmans wrote.

Russia denies involvement. But the evidence trail led investigators to conclude Moscow’s control began well before the tragedy occurred.

Court recognizes Russia wants to destroy Ukraine

The court ordered Russia:

  1. to release all people illegally detained in occupied territories
  2. cooperate in creating an international mechanism to identify kidnapped children and return them to their families.

Will Russia comply? History suggests no. Moscow has ignored international court rulings before.

But Ukraine’s Justice Ministry sees this differently. They called the ruling “unprecedented” and noted the court satisfied nearly all government complaints. More importantly, the court recognized something Ukrainian officials have argued for years: Russia is conducting “a targeted campaign to destroy the Ukrainian state as a subject of international law.”

The ministry went further, stating that the court found “Russia’s aggression is not limited to Ukraine—it is a global threat that questions the very idea of coexistence of states in the legal field. In particular, Russia demonstrates hostility toward other member states of the Council of Europe.”

Ukrainian judge Hnatovskyi explained why this case stands apart: “No previous conflicts examined showed such unanimous condemnation by the international community of the respondent state’s flagrant disregard for the principles of international legal order established after World War II.”

What’s the broader significance? This ruling doesn’t just address past violations—it creates legal precedent for holding Russia accountable for systematic human rights abuses. The question now is whether international pressure can translate into meaningful consequences for Moscow’s actions.

MH-17
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European Court Holds Russia Liable for Human Rights Violations in Ukraine and MH17 Attack

9 juillet 2025 à 09:21
In symbolic rulings, Moscow was again blamed for the downing of Flight MH17 in 2014 and for an array of war-related human rights violations, including the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

© Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

A section of Flight MH17 after it was shot down in 2014 over eastern Ukraine.
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