Russia guilty of downing Flight MH17 rules top European court

On July 9th, Europe’s top human rights court ruled that Russia was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014 and extensive breaches of international law in Ukraine, as reported on July 9th by the Washington Times. This decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) marked the first time that any international court has declared Moscow accountable for human rights abuses in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

The complaints, brought by both Ukraine and the Netherlands, are part of four cases that have been heard against Russia since the initial start of the conflict back in 2014. Judges delivered decisions based on accusations that included the murder, torture, rape, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Included in the case was also the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia and the downing of passenger jet MH17 by Kremlin-backed separatists.

Court President Mattias Guyomar said that pro-Russian forces committed violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine through attacks that “killed and wounded thousands of civilians and created fear and terror.” The court stated that the alleged human rights abuses went beyond any supposed military objectives, with Russia intentionally using sexual violence to break Ukrainian wartime morale, the French judge said. “The use of rape as a weapon of war was an act of extreme atrocity that amounted to torture”, Guyomar added.

The cases were originally brought before the court’s governing body, which expelled Russia following its full-scale invasion in 2022. The decisions are seen as symbolic, as Moscow says that it will disregard them. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on July 9th that “We won’t abide by it, we consider it void.”

The Malaysian airline flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was downed on July 17th, 2014, by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile fired from separatist-controlled Donbas. All 298 passengers and crew were killed. In May of this year, the UN’s main aviation agency found Russia responsible for the tragedy.

Russia was previously expelled from the Council of Europe, the continent’s central human rights organisation, but the court can still resolve cases against Russia dating before its expulsion in 2022. The judges sided with Ukraine and the Netherlands in 2023, finding that there was sufficient evidence to claim that the occupation of eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian rebels was “under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation,” including providing military, political and economic support. A UN inquiry in that year also made substantiated claims that Russia committed severe human rights violations, including the “systematic” use of torture in parts of Ukraine.

Kyiv has several cases that they hope to be deliberated, with nearly 10,000 more cases having been brought by individuals against Moscow. This means that more ECtHR rulings on the conflict are to be expected.  In an ongoing case in the Netherlands, two Russians and a Ukrainian rebel were convicted in absentia of multiple murders due to their roles in the downing of MH17. The convicted include the Russian ultranationalist activist and former Donetsk Minister of Defence Igor Girkin. The Kremlin has ignored the arrest order.

Moscow’s record of international legal and human rights complaints continues to grow. A June 2025 legal request submitted to the UN’s International Criminal Court (ICC) argued for an investigation into war crimes by the Russian-backed Wagner Group in West Africa. This track record includes the ICC’s notable condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with an arrest warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved plans just last month to organise a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine further adding to this list of denunciations.

The Associated Press via The Washington Times, Maghrebi.org.