The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia guilty in a major inter-state case combining complaints from Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia regarding numerous human rights violations during the war before and after 24 February 2022 and the downing of flight MH17, according to Yevropeyska Pravda.
This is a case that combines four inter-state complaints against Russia to the ECHR from Ukraine and the Netherlands:
- Ukraine v. Russia (No. 8019/16) – violations during the armed conflict in Donbas, in particular the downing of MH17, torture, forced labour and others;
- Ukraine v. Russia (No. 43800/14) – abduction and illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation in 2014;
- The Netherlands v. Russia (No. 28525/20) – circumstances and consequences of the downing of flight MH17;
- Ukraine v. Russia (No. 11055/22) – gross human rights violations during the full-scale invasion since 24 February 2022.
The Court unanimously recognised that it had jurisdiction over the complaints concerning events that took place before 16 September 2022, when Russia’s membership of the Council of Europe was suspended.
The Court found the Russian Federation guilty of numerous human rights violations that took place in the occupied territories before and after 24 February 2022, as well as in the wider territory of Ukraine after 24 February, and their massive and systematic nature. These include arbitrary killings of civilians and prisoners of war, deprivation of liberty, inhuman treatment, use of torture, Russia’s disregard for the consequences of its strikes on the civilian population, the systematic practice of suppressing Ukrainian identity, the deportation of Ukrainian children and adult civilians deep into the occupied territories or to the territory of the Russian Federation, etc.
The Court also found that flight MH17 over Donbas was shot down by a Russian Buk air defence system and that Russia is responsible for making this possible.
The verdict on the MH17 plane crash in Donetsk Region was read out on 17 November 2022. Three perpetrators, including Igor Girkin, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Investigators in the Boeing crash case later concluded that the decision to move the Buk air defence system, from which the fatal shot was fired, was made personally by Vladimir Putin.