The Dutch government has decided to file a lawsuit against Russia with the ECHR over the MH17 crash.

The Dutch government has decided to file a lawsuit against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) over the crash of flight MH17 in the skies over Donbass in 2014. This was reported on the website of the Dutch government.

“Achieving justice for the 298 victims of flight MH17 has been and remains the government's top priority,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok. “By taking this step today, by referring the case to the ECHR and thus supporting the claims of relatives [of the deceased], we are moving closer to this goal.”

In the spring of 2020, the trial in absentia of four defendants in the case of the crash of flight MH17 began in The Hague. Charges have been brought against the former Minister of Defense of the self-proclaimed DPR Igor Strelkov-Girkin, retired GRU officer Sergei Dubinsky, reserve lieutenant colonel of the Airborne Forces Oleg Pulatov, as well as a citizen of Ukraine, former commander of the DPR Leonid Kharchenko.

The latter, as found out the BBC Russian service , was arrested in the DPR in March in another criminal case. In addition, journalists learned that the investigation into the crash of flight MH17 involves the first deputy head of the FSB border service, Andrei Burlaka.

flight operating A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in the Donbass in the summer of 2014. As a result, 298 people died, most of whom were Dutch citizens. The Joint Investigation Team ( JIT ) considers Russia to be involved in the disaster, but Moscow denies all accusations.