In the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment in the case Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia, the most important outcome for the victims is that Russia has been found guilty of grossly violating its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
This was stated by Dutch lawyer Flip Schüller, who represents the relatives of those killed on flight MH17, in a comment to a Ukrinform correspondent.
“This is likely one of the historic moments in the ruling — Russia was found guilty not only of violating the right to life, due to the deaths of innocent people, but also of failing to investigate, showing indifference, and deliberately spreading disinformation. The Court considered all of this a violation of Article 3 — meaning it was degrading and amounted to inhuman treatment of the victims’ families,” he said.
Schüller emphasized that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights is one of its core provisions and allows for no exceptions — even in wartime or during a state of emergency. According to him, the Court has clearly demonstrated that Russia’s actions crossed the severity threshold defined by the Convention.
“This marks a new phase from a legal perspective, and it’s very important — not just for the Netherlands’ victims, but for all victims. The Court recognized that Russia’s indifference is itself a breach of its obligations,” Schüller added, stressing that the ruling matters not only for the Netherlands, but also for Ukraine and global justice.
One of the next complex issues, he said, will be the matter of fair compensation.
“That will be extremely difficult. And to be honest — right now, we simply don’t know how it will work. The entire Convention is based on the assumption that state parties cooperate with the Court. But since Russia is now outside that mechanism, some might despair and ask: what’s the practical point? But there’s another way to look at it — we must not allow this to become normalized or accepted. We cannot tolerate it. In the future, when the war ends and things begin to normalize, the issue of reparations will inevitably arise. This ruling will then become a key milestone on that path,” the lawyer explained.
As previously reported, since 2014, Ukrainian citizens affected by Russia’s crimes on Ukrainian territory have submitted nearly 7,000 individual applications to the European Court of Human Rights.
Source: Netherlands’ lawyer hails ECHR verdict on Russia as historic
