a Dutch court Thursday sentenced three men to life in prison and acquitted a fourth for the July 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 over eastern Ukrainian airspace, then controlled by pro-Russian separatist forces.
The 298 passengers and crew of the MH17 died after a missile hit this commercial aircraft which was flying the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) route.
They were the Russians Igor Guirkin and Sergei Dubinsky and the Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko “convicted” of murder intentionally shooting down the plane, while Russian Oleg Pulatov was acquitted, according to the sentence handed down by judge Hendrik Steenhuis.
The court sentenced the three men, tried in absentia, to life imprisonment, although it is not entirely clear if one day they will serve their sentence.
The four defendants are free and none of them attended the announcement of the sentence, as well as the rest of the hearings of the trial, which lasted two and a half years.
A tragedy in Ukraine
The impact occurred when the vessel was flying over the airspace of Donbassthen controlled by pro-Russian separatists and which is currently the area where the most intense fighting of the war in Ukraine is taking place.
Piet Ploeg, president of the MH17 foundation, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and a nephew in the tragic crash, told AFP he hoped the ruling could help the families of the victims heal the wound of loss.
“I don’t think this is completely closed. (…) But I really hope this day helps the relatives (of the victims) to move forward in their lives,” he said, in statements outside the courtroom, about a sentence which put an end to the long journey of relatives for justice to be done.
Guirkin, Dubinski, Kharchenko and Pulatov were part of the East Ukrainian separatist forcessupported by Moscow.
The judges found the three convicted to be responsible for deploying BUK missiles from a military base in Russia and have them installed in the place where they were launched, even if they didn’t push the button.
“There are numerous pieces of evidence that allow us to reach this conclusion,” such as “a butterfly-shaped fragment found on the body of a crew member,” he explained.
The court rejected the alternative hypothesis defended by defender that a Ukrainian fighter was involved in the downing of the plane.
The judges also assured that the Donetsk People’s Republic was then “under the control of the Russian Federation“.
Moscow has always denied any involvement in this tragedy.
“The Hague tribunal’s decision is important,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said after the announcement of the sentence.
“Retribution for all Russian atrocities, past and present, will be inevitable,” he added.
During the events, Guirkin, 51, he was a former Russian spy who was appointed Defense Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic and was in contact with Moscow for help with the missile system.
Dubinski, 60, also linked to Russian intelligence, was the head of military intelligence for the separatists and would gave the order to activate the missiles.
Pulatov and Kharchenko were his subordinates and were allegedly in charge of bringing the missiles to the launch site.
The the victims came from ten different countries (none of them Spanish speaking) and among them were 196 Dutch, 43 Malay and 38 Australian.
“If they are guilty, the international community should persecute them,” Evert van Zijtveld, who lost her 19-year-old daughter Frederique, 18-year-old son Robert-Jan and in-laws, told AFP.
“I can’t forgive them“He added in statements before the announcement of the sentence.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.