Reading the decisions in a packed courtroom in Strasbourg, Court President Mattias Guyomar said Russian forces breached international humanitarian law in Ukraine by carrying out attacks that “killed and wounded thousands of civilians and created fear and terror.”
The Kremlin said it would ignore the largely symbolic judgment, but Ukraine hailed it as “historic and unprecedented,” saying it was an “undeniable victory” for the embattled country.
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, the French judge said.
“The use of rape as a weapon of war was an act of extreme atrocity that amounted to torture,” Guyomar said.
The 501-page judgment noted that Russia's refusal to participate in the proceedings also was a violation of European Convention of Human Rights, the treaty that underpins the court.
Asked about the judgment before the rulings were read, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We won’t abide by it, we consider it void.”
Families of the victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster saw the decision as an important milestone in their 11-year quest for justice.
Thomas Schansman, whose 18-year-old son, Quinn, was aboard the jetliner, told The Associated Press that the judgment makes clear who caused the disaster.
Russia “is responsible for killing my son,” Schansman said.
The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, using a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels loyal to Moscow. All 298 passengers and crew were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens.
The judges found that Russia's refusal to acknowledge its involvement in the Flight MH17 disaster also violated international law. Russia's failure to properly investigate “significantly aggravated the suffering” of the relatives and friends of the dead.
“Russia never took any opportunity to tell the truth,” Schansman said.
In May, the U.N.'s aviation agency found Russia responsible for the disaster.
The separatist conflict that broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014 killed about 14,000 people before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
The ECHR is an important part of the Council of Europe, which is the continent's foremost human rights institution. The court's governing body expelled Moscow in 2022 in response to the all-out invasion. However, the court can still deal with cases against Russia dating from before its expulsion and, legally, the country is still obliged to participate in the proceedings.
The court will rule on financial compensation at a later date but Russia’s departure leaves little hope that damages will ever be collected.
In 2023, the judges sided with Ukraine and the Netherlands in a challenge over jurisdiction, finding there was sufficient evidence to show that areas in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels were "under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation." That included providing weapons, and giving political and economic support.
Wednesday’s rulings won’t be the last from the EHCR dealing with the war. Kyiv has other cases pending against Russia and there are nearly 10,000 cases brought by individuals against the Kremlin.
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.
In 2022, the United Nations' top court ordered Russia to stop military operations in Ukraine while a case is heard, a process that takes years. Russia has flouted the order by the International Court of Justice.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally approved plans to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the invasion.
Credit: AP
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Credit: AP