Court finds Russia liable for 2014 passenger plane crash

The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday ruled that Russia has committed numerous human rights violations in Ukraine over more than a decade. As part of the ruling, judges found that Russians, and Ukrainian separatists who sided with Russia, were responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014.

Litigation has continued more than a decade after the crash. All 298 people on board, mostly citizens of the Netherlands, died, and a Dutch inquiry determined that a Russian-made surface-to-air missile brought down the passenger jet. The flight departed Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before separatists shot it down over eastern Ukraine, the inquiry found. A Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russian men and one pro-Russia Ukrainian man for their involvement in the incident.

What else did the court say? The international court on Wednesday said Russia’s human rights abuses went beyond military objectives and were used to break Ukrainian morale. The judges ruled against Russia in four cases that included allegations of murder, torture, rape, kidnapping Ukrainian children, and destroying civilian infrastructure. It is the first time Russia has been found guilty of human rights violations by an international court since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The Kremlin said it would ignore the largely symbolic judgment, according to the Associated Press.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Leigh Jones’ report in The Sift on when first responders found the flight.