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European Court Holds Russia Liable for MH17 Downing and Widespread Abuses in Ukraine

Strasbourg’s unanimous verdict highlights the limits of international justice when a state expelled from the Council of Europe refuses to comply

FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 1, 2014 file photo, Australian and Dutch investigators examine a piece of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane, near the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. The Dutch government is taking to Russia to the European Court of Human Rights for its alleged role in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine six years ago, the foreign minister announced Friday July 10, 2020.
People demonstrate outside the European Court of Human Rights before it issues a landmark set of rulings about alleged Russian violations in Ukraine since 2014, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, Wednesday, July 9, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
Members of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces walk past a memorial to victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane crash, that was shot down over rebel-held territory in 2014, on the anniversary of the incident, outside the village of Hrabove in Donetsk region, Ukraine July 17, 2020. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo
FILE - Local citizens, background, look at the site of a crashed Malaysia Airlines passenger plane near the village of Hrabove, Ukraine, on July 18, 2014. (AP Photo, File)

Overview

  • The court ruled that a Russian-made Buk missile fired from separatist-held territory was responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014.
  • Judges concluded that Russian forces engaged in indiscriminate attacks, summary executions, torture including rape as a weapon of war, unlawful detentions and the transfer of Ukrainian children.
  • The four inter-state cases, brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands before Russia’s 2022 expulsion from the Council of Europe, cover violations from the 2014 conflict through the full-scale invasion.
  • Moscow has denounced the judgments as null and void, leaving the rulings largely symbolic with no enforcement mechanism or compensation determined.
  • Nearly 10,000 individual complaints remain pending at the ECHR and the court will issue further decisions on damages and additional inter-state cases in due course.