Netherlands government

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Europe’s top human rights court delivered damning judgments Wednesday against Russia in four cases brought by Kyiv and the Netherlands accusing Moscow of atrocities in Ukraine dating back more than a decade.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for widespread violations of international law — from shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, 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, 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.

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 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.

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.