The family of an American who died in the MH17 disaster may sue Russia's Sberbank.

The family of an American who died when Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over occupied Ukraine in 2014 may sue Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, for allegedly financing the individuals accused of downing the plane.

A U.S. appeals court issued the relevant ruling on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.

According to the ruling, the state-controlled Sberbank is not entitled to sovereign immunity after being accused of using the U.S. banking system to transfer funds to the pro-Russian separatist group known as the "Donetsk People's Republic."

The lawsuit against Sberbank was filed in April 2019 by the family of Quinn Shansman, who was 18 years old at the time of his death. He was aboard flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The family accused the bank of using the U.S. banking system to transfer donations to the DPR militants.

Sberbank denied the lawsuit, claiming it is a state organization and cannot be prosecuted in other countries.

However, three judges from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that the principle of sovereign immunity does not apply to Sberbank in this case, according to Reuters.

The money transfers made by Sberbank were considered "ordinary commercial activities," thus it does not fall under the protection of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

Therefore, Sberbank was conducting commercial transactions through the U.S. banking system on behalf of an organization deemed terrorist in Ukraine and sanctioned in the U.S.

Less than a year after the Shansman family's lawsuit was filed, in early 2020, the Russian government acquired a controlling stake in Sberbank.

This led Sberbank to argue in court that, as a state organization or agent, it is immune from prosecution in other jurisdictions (countries).

The law firm Jenner & Block, representing the Shansman family, welcomed the court's refusal to consider Russia's attempt to grant Sberbank immunity through the "strategic acquisition" of a controlling stake in the bank.

On July 17, 2014, a Malaysian Airlines passenger Boeing was shot down over the Donetsk region. Citizens from 17 countries perished—298 individuals (approximately two-thirds of whom were Dutch).

Following a lengthy investigation, a Hague court concluded that the plane was downed by a Russian-made Buk missile, which had been delivered to the DPR from the Kursk region shortly before the incident.