On Wednesday, January 25, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the case brought before it by the Dutch and Ukrainian governments concerning the responsibility of the Russian Federation in regard to the MH17 tragedy was partially admissible. This ruling is not based on the merits of the case but means that sufficient criteria have been met for the Hague-based court to hear it and will be followed by a Grand Chamber judgment at a later date.Now a long and arduous process begins, which means it may take years before a ruling is issued. Russia stopped being a party to the European Convention on Human Rights in September 2022. However, the court can still investigate claims against the state for actions committed up until this date.The ECHR is being asked to examine if Russia is guilty of, as the Netherlands claim, having spread disinformation regarding its involvement in the incident and thus violating the human rights of the relatives of the victims. Should the court rule in accordance with the Dutch reasoning, Russia may be obligated to pay damages to said relatives.Wednesday's ruling also holds further implications beyond aviation and MH17, as it means that the ECHR is prepared to hold Russia liable for human rights violations committed in the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as it was "in effective control" of the area.

National tragedy for the Netherlands

The Dutch were significantly impacted by the MH17 tragedy in July 2014, as the Malaysian Airlines 777 had taken off from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and was on its way to Kuala Lumpur on a codeshare agreement with KLM, also designated as KL4103. Over two-thirds (68%) of the passengers were of Dutch nationality.

In November last year, three men - two Russians and one Ukrainian - were trialed for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and found guilty in absentia. A Dutch court judged the intentions behind the shooting down of the Boeing 777, causing the death of all 298 people on board, to be deliberate.

The men will most likely never see jail time for the murder convictions, as the Russian government rejected the guilty verdict and is refusing to extradite the men, belonging to separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine backed by Russia.

As it were, the Netherlands was not content with placing the blame solely on the individuals charged with firing the missile that brought down the plane. It contends that Russia played a key role in the tragedy, stating that the Russian Federation was essentially in control of the area of Ukraine from where the surface-to-air missile was fired, a fact of which the ECHR seems have been convinced.

As such, the Netherlands initiated court proceedings with the European Court of Human Rights in July 2020, six years after the fateful events. According to a statement from the Dutch government,

"The Netherlands is arguing that Russia played a key role in the downing of flight MH17. The Netherlands also believes that Russia has not conducted an adequate investigation and that it has failed to cooperate with the Netherlands’ requests for a criminal investigation. In the view of the Netherlands, this, combined with Russia’s repeated denial of any involvement in downing flight MH17, has caused the victims’ next of kin additional suffering."

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