Which law would govern the MH17 families' damages claims?

What law would apply when the families of the victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 sought damages? On 3 September 2020 that question was still open, and the reports available from the days before it show why.

On 31 August 2020, lawyers representing the families said they intended to seek 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 whether Dutch or Ukrainian law would be applied.

The flight

The flight was a scheduled passenger 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. Contact with the Boeing 777-200ER was lost about 50 kilometres from the Ukraine–Russia border, and wreckage landed near Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, 40 km from the border. The shoot-down occurred during the war in Donbas, over territory controlled by Russian separatist forces.

A question for the court

The choice between Dutch and Ukrainian law was therefore not a formality. It was a matter the Dutch court was due to settle before the claims could proceed, and the families' lawyers had set out their intention before that decision was made.

Other reports from the same days showed a Europe preoccupied with security and the pandemic. On 30 August 2020, France's Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, disclosed that an army lieutenant-colonel stationed at a NATO base in Italy had been arrested and indicted on espionage charges, after he reportedly supplied sensitive documents to an officer of the GRU, Russian military intelligence. On 28 August 2020, Hungary announced it would close its borders to foreigners from 1 September to curb a rise in COVID-19 infections.