The announcement of the court verdict was broadcast by Espreso TV.
The Hague court recognized that the plane was shot down in 2014 by Donetsk separatists. The court has sentenced two Russians and one Ukrainian separatist to life imprisonment after they were found guilty of the mass murder for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, which killed all 298 people onboard.
According to the tribunal, the Buk air defense missile was launched from the village of Pervomaiske, Donetsk region, when it was under control of the Kremlin-backed Donetsk People Republic (DPR) militants.
According to the verdict, Igor Girkin and his subordinates Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko were found guilty in absentia.
The main arguments of the court were:
The Russian Federation controlled the DPR. At the time of the tragedy, DPR was under the control of Russia. This is also evidenced by telephone conversations between the separatists and the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. It is known that Igor Girkin was in contact with Vladislav Surkov.
Mark on the body. The court found that the plane was shot down by the Buk system. Such a conclusion was reached after examining the bodies of the dead. A fragment in the shape of a butterfly was found on one of them - such elements are used precisely in the Buk systems.
Photo from the scene of the tragedy. Among the main evidence that Boeing was shot down from the Buk system were pictures published on the Internet. They show a light and inversion trail in the sky.
Testimony. One of the eyewitnesses also stated that on the day of the tragedy, he heard an explosion and saw a rocket that left behind a trail of smoke. After that, he watched the plane fall. And in a few minutes, the Buk system, which was missing one rocket, drove past the witness. The witness was anonymous and went by the pseudonym M58.
Confessions of separatists. Immediately after the disaster, the DPR militia informed the LifeNews channel that they shot down the plane (they mistakenly called it An-26 of the Ukrainian Air Force). This news is still available on the LifeNew website.
The plane was shot down by mistake. The previous fact shows that the missile was fired intentionally, but the DPR militants believed that the plane was a military one. However, the court ruled that the mistake did not diminish malice.
Attempt to cover up a crime. After separatists shot down a civilian plane, the Buk system was rushed to Russia in an attempt to cover the tracks. But it was not possible to do this secretly - the Buk exported by the Russians got into many photos.
The court in The Hague sentenced Dubinsky, Girkin and Kharchenko in absentia to the highest degree of punishment - life imprisonment and payment of compensation to the relatives of the victims. The total amount of compensation is more than EUR 16 million.
An appeal in the MH17 case is possible within two weeks, the judge said.
Espreso correspondent Maria Abramkina, who is covering the case of MH17 flight in the Netherlands, recalled on the Espreso broadcast that 8 years ago, on July 17, 2014, a passenger Boeing-777 of Malaysia Airlines, operating flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed; 283 passengers and 15 crew members died.
“The meeting of the District Court of The Hague in the case of MH17 took place in the Schiphol court complex near Amsterdam. Journalists were not allowed into the courtroom, but there were many participants in the case. The judge said that over the long time of hearing the case, people already know each other well, he also promised not to read the verdict in full, but to read it for one hour and 45 minutes. Previously, the judge said that the plane was shot down by a missile fired from the Buk air defense system, which was located in a field near Pervomaiske, Donetsk region. The suspects did not appear in court, and they were declared international wanted persons,” the journalist commented.
Maria Abramkina noted that the investigation considered the suspects guilty of the plane crash. The relatives of the victims still cannot recover from the death of their relatives and it is very important for them that the court finds Russia guilty.