Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg delivered rulings against Russia on Wednesday, stating Moscow has violated international law in Ukraine, marking the first time an international court has found the Kremlin responsible for human rights abuses since its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.
The court also ruled Russia was behind the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the first time an international court has found Moscow responsible for the 2014 tragedy that claimed 298 lives.
The decisions in Strasbourg are separate from a criminal prosecution in the Netherlands in which two Russians and a Ukrainian rebel were convicted in absentia of multiple murders for their roles in the downing of Flight MH17.
The judges have ruled on a total of four cases, brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia, ranging from the MH17 crash to the murder, torture, rape, destruction of civilian infrastructure and kidnapping of Ukrainian children after Moscow's full-scale invasion of 2022.
The judges found the human rights abuses went beyond any military objective and that Russia used sexual violence as part of a strategy to break Ukrainian morale, Court President, French judge Mattias Guyomar said while reading the decisions.
Russian forces breached international humanitarian law in Ukraine by carrying out attacks that “killed and wounded thousands of civilians and created fear and terror," Guyomar explained.
While the decisions are expected to be largely symbolic, as the court's governing body expelled Moscow in 2022, following Russia's all-out war in Ukraine, Kyiv hailed it as “historic and unprecedented,” saying it was an “undeniable victory” for the country.
Quest for justice continues
Families of the victims of the MH17 disaster see the decision as an important milestone in their 11-year quest for justice.
"It's a real step in understanding who was really responsible," Thomas Schansman, who lost his 18-year-old son Quinn in the tragedy, told AP.
The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on 17 July 2014 using a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. All 298 passengers and crew were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens.
In May, the UN's aviation agency found Russia responsible for the disaster.
Schansman, who has also brought an individual case to the ECHR, has no plans to stop pursuing justice, more than a decade after his son's death. "The worst thing we could to is stop fighting," he told AP. "MH17 is not a case that will disappear for Russia."
Kyiv has other cases pending against Russia before the court in Strasbourg, and there are nearly 10,000 cases brought by individuals against the Kremlin.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally approved plans to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
