Which law would govern MH17 families' damages claims?
Lawyers for relatives of the Flight 17 victims set out plans to seek damages from four suspects, leaving a Dutch court to settle the legal basis.
What law would apply when the families of those killed on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 seek compensation? On 31 August 2020, lawyers representing the victims' relatives said they intended to pursue unspecified damages from four suspects charged by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service in connection with the incident.
The claims had not yet been filed. A Dutch District Court was to determine first whether Dutch or Ukrainian law would be applied, a threshold question that would shape how any civil case proceeded.
The incident behind the claims
The flight was a scheduled service from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It was shot down on 17 July 2014 by Russian-backed forces with a Buk 9M38 surface-to-air missile while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Wreckage landed near Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, about 40 km from the Russian border, in territory held by Russian separatist forces during the war in Donbas.
Why the choice of law matters
The wreckage fell in Ukraine, while the prosecution of the four suspects was being brought by Dutch authorities. That split is why the District Court's ruling on applicable law, Dutch or Ukrainian, mattered for the families' plans. Until the court decided, the lawyers had no filed claim and no stated sum.
The announcement on 31 August 2020 thus marked an intention rather than a lawsuit: a signal that the families wished to add a civil route to the criminal charges already brought by the Dutch prosecutors.
