European Court Rules Russia Failed to Investigate Death of Dutch Journalist in 2008 War
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, October 9, 2025
The European Court of Human Rights has found that Russia failed to properly investigate the death of Dutch photojournalist Stan Storimans, who was killed during the 2008 Russia-Georgia War. The Court ruled that Russia violated the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to life.
Storimans, a cameraman for Dutch television, was killed on August 12, 2008, during a missile strike in Gori, a Georgian town hit amid the conflict. Two of his colleagues, Jeroen Akkermans and Tsadok Yecheskeli, were injured in the same attack. The case, Storimans-Verhulst and Others v. Russia, was brought by the journalist's family and colleagues, represented by lawyers from the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association and the Dutch organization Stichting Justice Initiative.
A Dutch Foreign Ministry investigation in 2008 concluded that Storimans died in a strike carried out with an Iskander missile armed with cluster munitions, a weapon type identified as being in the Russian arsenal. The findings were sent to the Russian Defense Ministry, which replied that the information was "insufficient to determine the provenance of the fragments that had apparently caused Mr. Storimans' death." No further steps were taken after 2009.
"Despite the gravity of these allegations and the evidence provided by the Dutch investigation, the Russian authorities took no meaningful steps to clarify the circumstances of the incident, and limited their response to general denials and requests for further evidence," the Court stated in its October 7 ruling.
The judgment continued, "Even assuming that they did open an inquiry into the matter, as claimed, they failed to pursue a meaningful criminal investigation, and ultimately took no concrete investigative measures after transferring the matter to the military-crimes unit, which, moreover, was based in the conflict zone, thereby limiting the applicants' access to any such investigation."
The Court unanimously ordered Russia to pay 10,000 euros to Storimans's widow and children for non-pecuniary damage and 10,000 euros each to Akkermans and Yecheskeli. The judges found the applicants' complaints under the substantive limb of Article 2 inadmissible.
