ECHR recognizes that Russia has illegally occupied Donbas since May 11, 2014

This was reported by the press service of the European Court of Human Rights on Twitter citing the press release of the decision.

The court found that the territories in eastern Ukraine seized by separatists had been under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation since May 11, 2014.

The ECHR refers to the presence of the Russian military in eastern Ukraine since April 2014 and the large-scale deployment of Russian troops since August 2014 at the latest. Therefore, the court has the right to consider Ukraine's claim against Russia regarding the war in Donbas.

The Court found most of the Ukrainian government's complaints admissible and will proceed to consider them on the merits. The ECHR must determine whether Russia has violated human rights in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In addition, the Court found the Dutch government's complaint about the downing of flight MH17 admissible. The Dutch lawsuit over the downing of MH17 against Russia was joint with the Ukrainian one. 

The Malaysia Airlines passenger Boeing-777 with 298 people on board, which was operating flight MH17 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down over the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas on July 7, 2014. All people were killed: 283 passengers and 15 crew members. 

• On June 10, 2022, the trial of the MH17 plane shot down over the Donetsk region ended in the Netherlands.

• On November 17, the court announced the verdict, according to which the Russian-controlled DPR, Igor Girkin and his subordinates, Sergey Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko, were found guilty of the tragedy. According to the court, they must pay EUR 16 million in compensation to the victims’ families.