Three German families whose relatives died in the MH17 crash in Donbas, want to sue Ukraine. They will be represented by aviation law professor Elmar Giemulla, who is already preparing a lawsuit. “Each country is responsible for the safety of its airspace. If it is not able to do so temporarily, it must close its air space. As that did not happen, Ukraine is liable for the damage,” said Giemulla as quoted by Reuters. Besides, he also added that by not closing its airspace, Ukraine had accepted that the lives of hundreds of innocent people could be annihilated.
The German lawyer plans on handing the case against the Ukrainian government and President Petro Poroshenko personally to the European Court of Human Rights within two weeks. According to him, the compensation in each case should equal at least one million euros. Earlier, Malaysia Airlines paid 5,000 euros to families of each victim. Now the possibility of paying 50,000 more in each case is considered.
Let us remind that on July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing which flew over the territory occupied by separatists was shot down with a Buk missile system. This tragedy took the lives of all 298 people on board, including 4 German citizens.
The Day addressed Volodymyr VASYLENKO, expert in international law, professor, Doctor of Law, with a request to comment on the possible lawsuit against Ukraine and the reasons that might have caused it:
“The European Court of Human Rights has a requirement: before submitting a case, the victim must exhaust all local means of legal protection. This rule is also recorded in the European Convention on Human rights. It means that the suitor must first apply to all Ukrainian courts. Only then the Strasbourg court will be able to accept this case for preliminary consideration.
“It is absolutely incorrect to say that Ukraine is a defendant in this case before the investigation, which is carried out by the international commission, is completed. It is an inadequate approach. Even if the case is brought before a Ukrainian court, it will postpone the trial before the investigation is finished and its result is published. The Strasbourg court will also state the necessity to have the commission’s evaluation available.
“It [the statement made by the German lawyer. – Ed.] also says that the crash happened in Ukraine’s airspace, and according to the international law regulations, it bears responsibility for safety of flights in its airspace. Such regulation does exist, but it is in force in peace time. Then whole responsibility is put with the state which has sovereignty over the airspace. The airspace in which the tragedy took place was controlled by terrorists, who in turn are financed and armed by the government of the Russian Federation. It is premature to impose all responsibility on Ukraine and say that it is guilty of the Boeing crash a priori. By the way, nobody raised claims against Great Britain or Ireland after the terrorist attack over Lockerbie.
“Why did such a lawsuit against Ukraine appear? There are a lot of Russia’s agents of influence, corrupt politicians, lawyers, businessmen, and journalists in Germany, who are tools of Russia’s anti-Ukrainian propaganda.”
