Today, 09 July 2025, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment on the merits in the interstate complaint Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia
The case is the largest among interstate cases, combining four applications: No. 8019/16, 43800/14, 28525/20 and 11055/22. Two of them were submitted by Ukraine in 2014 and concern massive violations of human rights by the Russian Federation on the territory of eastern Ukraine, including cases of abduction and forced transfer of children to Russia; the third application was submitted by the Netherlands in 2020 in connection with the downing of the passenger aircraft flight MH17; the fourth application, submitted by Ukraine in 2022, concerns violations of human rights that took place under conditions of the full-scale aggression of Russia which began after 24 February 2022. Twenty-six contracting states were granted the right to submit written comments at the stage of consideration of the case on the merits and submitted a joint written submission.
In the admissibility decision of 25 January 2023, the ECHR already recognized that from May 2014 and at least until January 2022 the occupied territories of Donbas were under the jurisdiction of Russia. The Court also established that the downing of flight MH17 happened in territory that was under the effective control of Russian occupation administrations.
A thorough analysis of this decision, prepared by UHHRU lawyers, can be found at the link https://zib.com.ua/ua/154706.html.
The judgment of 9 July 2025 established that the Court has jurisdiction ratione temporis to consider the case in the part concerning events that took place before 16 September 2022; Ukraine’s complaints concerning events in the territory controlled by separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the period from 26 January 2022 to 16 September 2022 fall under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention; Ukraine’s complaints regarding military attacks committed by separatists or armed forces of the Russian Federation fall under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention.
The Grand Chamber established that in connection with the downing of the aircraft flight MH17, the absence of an effective investigation, effective remedies, as well as suffering inflicted on relatives of the victims, Russia violated Article 2 of the Convention in its substantive and procedural aspects, Article 13 and Article 3 of the Convention respectively.
In the context of Ukraine, the Court stated the presence of such forms of administrative practice on the part of the Russian Federation:
▪️ military attacks in violation of Articles 2, 3 and 8 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention;
▪️ extrajudicial executions of civilians and Ukrainian servicemen who no longer took part in hostilities, in violation of Article 2 of the Convention;
▪️ torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Article 3 of the Convention;
▪️ forced labour in violation of Article 4 § 2 of the Convention;
▪️ unlawful and arbitrary detention of civilians in violation of Article 5 of the Convention;
▪️ unjustified transfer of civilian population, as well as application of filtration measures in violation of Article 8 of the Convention;
▪️ intimidation, persecution and harassment of religious groups, except the UOC MP, in violation of Article 9 of the Convention;
▪️ unjustified interference with freedom to impart and receive information and ideas in violation of Article 10 of the Convention;
▪️ unjustified interference with the right to peaceful assembly in violation of Article 11 of the Convention;
▪️ destruction, looting and expropriation of property of civilian population and private enterprises in violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, and also, in that part concerning destruction and looting of housing and personal property, in violation of Article 8 of the Convention;
▪️ suppression of the Ukrainian language and indoctrination in education, in violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention;
▪️ transfer to Russia and, in many cases, subsequent adoption of Ukrainian children on the territory of Russia in violation of Articles 3, 5 and 8 of the Convention, and that there is no necessity to separately examine the complaint under Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention;
▪️ failure to ensure rights and freedoms provided by Articles 2, 3, 4 § 2, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the Convention and Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, without discrimination on grounds of political opinion and national origin, in violation of Article 14 of the Convention;
▪️ administrative practice in violation of Article 13 of the Convention in conjunction with Articles 2, 3, 4 § 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14 of the Convention and Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention;
The Grand Chamber unanimously ruled that Russia must without delay release or ensure the safe return of all persons who were deprived of liberty on the territory of Ukraine which was under the occupation of the Russian Federation or forces controlled by it, in violation of Article 5 of the Convention before 16 September 2022 and who are still detained by the Russian authorities.
In addition, the Court indicated that Russia must without delay cooperate in the creation of an international and independent mechanism to ensure, as quickly as possible and considering the best interests of children, the identification of all children transferred from Ukraine to Russia or to territories controlled by Russia before 16 September 2022, the restoration of contact between these children and their living relatives or legal representatives, as well as the safe reunification of children with their families or guardians.
The Court decided to separate applications No. 28525/20 from applications No. 8019/16, 43800/14 and 11055/22 exclusively for purposes of further proceedings.
Three more interstate cases on complaints of Ukraine against Russia remain under consideration of the ECHR, as well as approximately 9,500 individual applications which likely concern events that took place in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in eastern Ukraine, in the region of the Sea of Azov, as well as military actions initiated by Russia on the territory of Ukraine after 24 February 2022.
The judgment is available at the link: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/ukr?i=001-244292.