Executions, torture, displacement of minors, forced work and destruction of the MH17 flight: the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Russia for the numerous abuses committed in Ukraine from 2014. The togots of Strasbourg have established, in two judgments issued today, that Moscow has violated international law in Ukraine and is held responsible for the MH17 flight of the MH17. Airlines in the Donetsk region, in Donbass: in the 2014 aerial tragedy, 298 people died.
However, any decision of the Court will have a above all symbolic value: Russia has in fact been expelled from the Council of Europe in 2022, in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, and since then it no longer recognizes the jurisdiction of the body. Russia “does not intend to conform” to this decision, declared the spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitrij Peskov during his daily press conference after the pronunciation of the CDU sentence. “We consider them nulle and without value”.
“Serious violations of human rights in Ukraine: Russia wants to erase it”
The judges of the European Court of Human Rights of Strasbourg argue that Russia’s intent now became clear: from February 24, 2022, Moscow is committing to destroy Ukraine. This was stated by the president of the European Court of Human Rights while reading the ruling on the appeals introduced by Kiev against Moscow for the events that took place on the Ukrainian territory since spring 2014. “If before 2022 Moscow has acted secretly, since February of that year it has become clear what the intent of his actions was”, said the president of the ECHR, the French judge Mattias Guyomar. It is the first time that an international court considers the Kremlin responsible for human rights violations after the large scale invasion of his neighbor in 2022.
Russia has therefore been declared guilty of executions of “Ukrainian civil and military and soldier”, “acts of torture” and “unjustified displacement of civilians”. The ECHR also detected the “administrative practice consisting in committing destruction, looting and expropriation of goods belonging to civilians and private companies”. In Moscow, serious violations of human rights in Ukraine are also attributed. Strasbourg togates indicate that among the practices adopted by Russia there have been “indiscriminate and disproportionate military attacks and direct attacks against residential areas and civil infrastructures that caused deaths, wounded, suffering and damaged damage to properties and homes, summary executions of civil and Ukrainian military personnel no longer able to fight, the use of rape”. For this reason, the ECHR imposes on Russia the return of Ukrainian children who has transferred to its territory, practice – that the evidence demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt – having been adopted between 2014 and 2022.
All the Russian actors, reads the CDU sentence, have stained themselves with serious crimes. The “vast amount of evidence presented testifies interconnected practices of clearly illegal conduct by Russian state agents – armed forces, civil authorities, occupant administrations and separatist armed groups – on a massive scale throughout Ukraine”. Kiev has other pending causes against Russia before the Strasbourg court, and there are almost 10 thousand causes intended by individuals against the Kremlin.
The court ruling comes after Russia hit Ukraine last night with a record number of 728 drones, shortly after the president of the United States Donald Trump had committed to send more defensive weapons to Kiev and had indicated to be considering heavy penalties against Moscow.
The Cedu condemns Russia for the demolition of the MH17 flight
Among the dossiers on the table there is also the demolition of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight and the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to the territories controlled by Moscow.
For the family members of the victims of the MH17 flight, however, the sentence represents an important milestone in a path of justice over eleven years long. The Boeing 777, which started from Amsterdam and directed to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down on 17 July 2014 by a Russian-made Earth-Air-Aia Aiaia Air Missile, launched by the territory of Eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. In the impact all 298 people died on board, including 196 Dutch citizens.
According to the court, Moscow has tried in every way to hide its responsibilities. For this reason, Russia has been condemned, among other things, for the violation of the right to life of all people on board and that of the right not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatments of the families of the victims, for the suffering that the behavior of the Russian authorities caused him last May, also the organization for the international civil aviation (ICAO), the United Nations Agency, considered Russia responsible for the air disaster.
