Three former members of pro-Russia separatist movement found guilty of murdering 298 people in 2014 shooting down of Malaysia airlines flight in Ukraine

Court in Netherlands hands life sentences to Russian nationals Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinskiy and a Ukrainian, Leonid Kharchenko

The men were found guilty of bringing down the plane and the murder of everyone onboard

Court had concluded that MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile from an agricultural field in eastern Ukraine, citing extensive evidence that did not leave “any possibility for reasonable doubt whatsoever”

Flight MH17 was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when it was shot out of the sky over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine

All 298 people on board were killed, including 15 crew members and 283 passengers from 17 countries – 80 of them were children.

They convicted men were ordered to pay “more than $16.6m” in compensation to the victims

A third Russian national, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted of the charges owing to lack of evidence about his role in the firing of the missile.

A Dutch court on Thursday, found three east European men guilty of the murder of 298 people onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile when it was flying over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
The court handed down sentences of life imprisonment to Russian nationals Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinskiy and a Ukrainian, Leonid Kharchenko, after finding them guilty of bringing down the plane and the murder of everyone onboard.
The trio were ordered to pay “more than €16m [$16.6m]” in compensation to the victims.
The three men responsible remain at large and it remains unclear if they will ever serve their sentences.
A third Russian national, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted of the charges owing to lack of evidence about his role in the firing of the missile.
In 2014, all four men were fighters for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, a pro-Russia separatist movement. None of the men appeared in court and only Pulatov chose to appoint lawyers, who pled not guilty on his behalf.

The court had concluded that MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile from an agricultural field in eastern Ukraine, citing extensive evidence that did not leave “any possibility for reasonable doubt whatsoever”, presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis said.
The court found that Russia had overall control of the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine at the time when the plane was shot down, he said.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said it was an important court decision.
In a tweet, he said: “Holding to account masterminds is crucial too, as the feeling of impunity leads to new crimes. We must dispel this illusion. Punishment for all [Russia’s] atrocities then & now is inevitable.”
The verdict caps a 32-month trial that began in March 2020 in a secure courtroom at Schiphol airport, from where flight MH17 took off on 17 July 2014 bound for Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Flight MH17 was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when it was shot out of the sky over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Only a few hours into the flight, a missile exploded just above and to the left of the cockpit, causing the plane to break up in midair, according to an international investigation. All 298 people on board were killed, including 15 crew members and 283 passengers from 17 countries.
The victims included families with children, young couples and retirees, teenagers celebrating the end of exams, professionals heading to conferences, a nun, a shipping worker going home. – Eighty of the victims were children.
198 were Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysians, 38 Australians and 10 from the UK.

The downing of the jet happened in the early phase of the conflict between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces, a precursor to Moscow’s full invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Thursday’s verdict, which follows a two-year trial at the highly secured Schiphol Judicial Complex in Badhoevedorp, marks the first time that independent judgment has been passed on the incident, and may provide some small amount of justice for the families of the victims.
The case has become more significant in light of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, which began nine months ago, with the potential of war crimes tribunals adjudicating likely the fallout of war crimes in the aftermath.
The verdict also comes weeks after Moscow sought to illegally annex four Ukrainian regions, including the area where the court said the missile that brought down MH17 was fired from eight years earlier. It also comes two days after a missile landed in Poland, raising fears that Russia’s assault on Ukraine could spill over into neighboring countries.

The court found that Flight MH17 was hit by a Russian Buk missile launched from farmland outside a village in eastern Ukraine that was held at the time by pro-Russian rebels who were under the control of Moscow, and that the missile system had been moved back to Russia after the strike.
The three convicted men all played key roles in and transporting the Buk system and its crew into Ukraine, the court ruled, though it found there was insufficient evidence to determine who fired the missile.
Judge Steenhuis said the court found that the firing of the missile at MH17 was a premeditated act intended to bring down a plane – and while the crew likely believed they were firing at a military aircraft, it would have been “crystal clear” to them that no one on board any targeted aircraft would survive.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, reacting to the judgement said: “This is yet another step in the pursuit of truth and justice for the victims and their loved ones. And important as this verdict is, it is not the final conclusion … It is not the end. All parties will have the right to appeal, so the judgment is not yet final. But to reiterate, an important step has been taken today.”
Back in 2018 the Netherlands and Australia said Russia was responsible for the disaster, after investigators concluded the BUK missile had come from a Russian military base.
While the convicted men have a right to appeal, the Kremlin has always denied any involvement, as it claims it was excluded from the investigation.
Moscow described the verdict as “politically motivated” and said it would not extradite the sentenced Russians to the Netherlands.