Europe's Supreme Court of Human Rights to rule against Russia on Ukraine conflict case
The Hague, Netherlands (AP) – Europe's top human rights court will rule Russia's actions in the Ukrainian conflict on Wednesday, including human rights violations during a full-scale invasion and the landing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
A judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will rule on four cases filed by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia, the first time the International Court of Justice has found Russia guilty to the culprit, thus ruling the wider conflict in Ukraine in 2014.
Any decision is largely symbolic. The complaint was filed in 2022 after a full-scale invasion, with the court's governing body expelling Moscow in 2022.
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.
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 judges stood aside in Ukraine and the Netherlands’ challenges to jurisdictions and found sufficient evidence that the areas of Ukraine, controlled by separatist insurgents, were “under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation”, including the provision of weapons and political and economic support.
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.
Strasbourg's decision was separated from the Dutch criminal prosecution, with two Russians and Ukrainian insurgents convicted of absent from multiple murders for their role in landing in the MH17 flight.
Meanwhile, in 2022, the UN 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.
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.”
