ECHR Finds Russia Guilty in Major Ukraine, Netherlands Case

The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia guilty in a major interstate 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. The court's decision was announced on 9 July.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to European Pravda.

The Russian side was absent during the announcement of the decision, as it had been during previous hearings.

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 noted that the events in Ukraine are unprecedented in the history of the Council of Europe.

‘The nature and scale of the hostilities and the ominous statements (by Russia) regarding Ukrainian statehood, independence and the very right to exist pose a threat to peaceful coexistence in Europe, which has long been taken for granted,’ the Court said in its conclusions, noting that similar rhetoric is also occasionally directed at Poland, Moldova and the Baltic states. 

The Court noted that its task was not to assess the legality of the Russian invasion and occupation, but to assess the compliance of Russia's actions with the fundamental principles set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols. 

The court found the Russian Federation responsible for numerous human rights violations that took place in the occupied territories before and after 24 February 2022, and for their massive and systematic nature.  

These include arbitrary killings of civilians and prisoners of war, deprivation of liberty, inhuman treatment, torture, systematic suppression of Ukrainian identity, including through the education system, the practice of ‘filtration,’ the removal of Ukrainian children and adult civilians deep into the occupied territories or to the territory of the Russian Federation, etc. 

The court found Russia responsible for its conduct of hostilities from 11 May 2014 to 16 September 2022 and found violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR and Article 1 of Protocol 1, and after 24 February, also violations of Article 8 of the ECHR. 

The court also found that flight MH17 over Donbas was shot down by a Russian Buk air defence system and that Russia was responsible for making this possible. In this context, violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR were found.

Ukrainian judge at the ECHR Mykola Gnativsky noted that this is probably the largest and most important case in the history of the ECHR.

This case is unprecedented: 26 states and one international organisation have joined it as third parties.