Life sentence for two Russians and a Ukrainian convicted of the downing of the MH17 plane

The Dutch Justice sentenced two Russians and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment on Thursday for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 "with a BUK missile from an agricultural field" in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
17 November 2022 Thursday 07:30
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Life sentence for two Russians and a Ukrainian convicted of the downing of the MH17 plane

The Dutch Justice sentenced two Russians and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment on Thursday for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 "with a BUK missile from an agricultural field" in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The trial began has been held in absentia and none of the accused is in custody.

The Russians Igor "Strelkov" Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky, and the Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko have been found "guilty" of the downing of the plane and the "murder" of the 298 passengers who were on board MH17, according to the sentence read by the president of the court, Hendrik Steenhuis, in front of hundreds of relatives of victims of that tragedy.

Girkin and Dubinsky had "high-level roles and coordination of the operation" that led to the demolition of MH17, while Kharchenko was "directly involved" in the demolition. In addition, the three are now responsible for the compensation that will have to be paid to the relatives of the victims for the damage caused.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised the Dutch court's "significant decision" to sentence the three men to life imprisonment for the downing of the plane.

"An important decision of the court in The Hague," Zelenski has assured. "Punishment for all Russian atrocities, both yesterday and today, will be inevitable," he added.