MH17 News: ECtHR judgement on "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia"

[FatPhil]

The case Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia (applications nos. 8019/16, 43800/14, 28525/20 and
11055/22) concerned the conflict that began in eastern Ukraine in 2014 following the arrival in the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions of pro-Russian armed groups, and escalated after Russia's full-scale
invasion of Ukraine beginning on 24 February 2022. It also concerned the shooting down of flight
MH17 over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014, killing all those on board, many of whom were Dutch
nationals. Ukraine alleged repeated violations of human rights by Russia, while the Kingdom of the
Netherlands alleged violations of the Convention by Russia as a result of the downing of flight MH17.
For more information about the case, see the FAQ.

...
The Court also held, unanimously, that there had been violations of Articles 2, 3 and 13 in application
no. 28525/20 concerning the downing of flight MH17.

It referred to the facts as established by the comprehensive investigation carried out by an
international joint investigation team (known as the JIT) and a first-instance criminal court in the
Hague. Russia had failed to take any measures to ensure accurate verification of the target of the
missile or to safeguard the lives of those on board, showing a cavalier attitude to civilians at risk from
its hostile activities.

It had also failed to carry out an effective investigation into the downing and had failed to cooperate
with the JIT, disclosing inaccurate or fabricated information and adopting an obstructive approach to
attempts to uncover the cause and circumstances of the crash.

-- https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conv...g from the conflict in Ukraine since 2014.pdf
via the "Press Release" link: https://www.echr.coe.int/w/grand-chamber-judgment-in-an-inter-state-case-1

 

[yoshy]

The case Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia (applications nos. 8019/16, 43800/14, 28525/20 and
11055/22) concerned the conflict that began in eastern Ukraine in 2014 following the arrival in the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions of pro-Russian armed groups, and escalated after Russia's full-scale
invasion of Ukraine beginning on 24 February 2022. It also concerned the shooting down of flight
MH17 over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014, killing all those on board, many of whom were Dutch
nationals. Ukraine alleged repeated violations of human rights by Russia, while the Kingdom of the
Netherlands alleged violations of the Convention by Russia as a result of the downing of flight MH17.
For more information about the case, see the FAQ.

...
The Court also held, unanimously, that there had been violations of Articles 2, 3 and 13 in application
no. 28525/20 concerning the downing of flight MH17.

It referred to the facts as established by the comprehensive investigation carried out by an
international joint investigation team (known as the JIT) and a first-instance criminal court in the
Hague. Russia had failed to take any measures to ensure accurate verification of the target of the
missile or to safeguard the lives of those on board, showing a cavalier attitude to civilians at risk from
its hostile activities.

It had also failed to carry out an effective investigation into the downing and had failed to cooperate
with the JIT, disclosing inaccurate or fabricated information and adopting an obstructive approach to
attempts to uncover the cause and circumstances of the crash.

-- https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR&id=003-8279845-11657965&filename=Grand Chamber judgment Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia - the Court holds Russia accountable for widespread and flagrant abuses of human rights arising from the conflict in Ukraine since 2014.pdf
via the "Press Release" link: https://www.echr.coe.int/w/grand-chamber-judgment-in-an-inter-state-case-1

No surprises here, but it's good to have it officially documented through due process.

Quoting from the Press Release:

The Court found that Russia was responsible for repeated human-rights violations over a period of more than eight years. This included indiscriminate military attacks; summary executions; torture, notably rape as a weapon of war; unlawful and arbitrary detentions; intimidation and persecution of journalists and religious groups; looting and destruction of private property; and the organised removal of children to Russia and their adoption there.

Again, sadly not a surprise, but it's good to have another piece of official documentation to show to Russia apologists.

Thank you for posting this.

 

[FatPhil]

No surprises here, but it's good to have it officially documented through due process.

Quoting from the Press Release:

The Court found that Russia was responsible for repeated human-rights violations over a period of more than eight years. This included indiscriminate military attacks; summary executions; torture, notably rape as a weapon of war; unlawful and arbitrary detentions; intimidation and persecution of journalists and religious groups; looting and destruction of private property; and the organised removal of children to Russia and their adoption there.

Again, sadly not a surprise, but it's good to have another piece of official documentation to show to Russia apologists.

Thank you for posting this.

I was going to accompany the post with a similar commentary, but then I thought perhaps that was a bit redundant: you already knew what I'd say.

Alas, Russian apologists, at least the ones I cross paths with, don't seem to care much about evidence, unless it's creating it, or paying foreigners to create it, to push their "Ukrainians are Nazis" narrative, which could hardly be farther from the truth: I genuinely can't think of a country in Europe which shows lower support for such things. We're about 4 times worse here, we even have a major political party that we nickname "The Hitler Party" (adding them and "The Putin Party" that's over 40% of the vote, we're quite close to fucked here.)

 

[FatPhil]

I'm kinda annoyed that working out who was responsible took so long - given the evidence:

 

[yoshy]

I'm kinda annoyed that working out who was responsible took so long - given the evidence:

For some reason, the complaint by the government of the Netherlands wasn't submitted until 10 July 2020 (pdf link).

On 10 July 2020 the Government of the Netherlands lodged an inter-State application under Article33 (Inter-State cases) of the European Convention on Human Rights against the Russian Federation.
The inter-State application has been registered under no. 28525/20.
The application concerns the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014, killing 298 persons, including 196 Dutch nationals.

No clue why it took until 2020 to be submitted. I know government, legal stuff (especially something of this magnitude) like this is slow, but 6 years to submit? There were pictures like yours, intercepted communications of them bragging about the shoot-down before they realized it was civilian, satellites tracking, and so on.

 

[Miss VocalCord]

No clue why it took until 2020 to be submitted. I know government, legal stuff (especially something of this magnitude) like this is slow, but 6 years to submit? There were pictures like yours, intercepted communications of them bragging about the shoot-down before they realized it was civilian, satellites tracking, and so on.

I think it was not until 2020 when they started prosecuting the 4 suspects. I think that was the point where there was enough evidence to bring it to a court. There were two earlier individual complaints filed at the ECtHR (2016 and 2018) to which the Dutch government intervened with
https://mh17tijdlijn.nl/?lang=en