KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — The Hague District Court has today sentenced two Russians and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment after finding them guilty on charges of causing the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014 and the murders of all 298 people on board.
They are Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko.
Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis, who read a summary of the judgment, also ordered the three men to pay more than 16 million euros in compensation to relatives of the victims.
He said the Buk (missile system) TELAR installation was brought to Ukraine at the initiative of Dubinskiy, as a commanding officer within the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
“He was directly in charge of organising and directing the transport of the Buk TELAR to and from the launch site. With respect to that transport, the accused Kharchenko had a direct and active role as executive commander, who in fact provided and arranged for the Buk TELAR to be accompanied.
“Kharchenko also ensured that the Buk TELAR was guarded and protected at the ultimate launch site,” he said.
The judge further said these active contributions on his part were so important for firing the Buk missile, that Dubinskiy and Kharchenko worked closely and deliberately as co-perpetrators and with the crew of the Buk TELAR in the downing of Flight MH17.
He said Girkin was the highest DPR military leader in operational terms and as such bore (final) responsibility for the deployment of military resources in and for the DPR.
He said the downing of Flight MH17 caused devastating destruction and took the lives of 298 people, with unforeseeably serious consequences for the relatives.
“The court qualifies the attitude and dispositions of Kharchenko, Dubinskiy and Girkin, who have merely responded to the accusations from afar, as disrespectful and unnecessarily hurtful to the relatives,” he said.
“Causing the crash of Flight MH17 and the murders of all persons on board is such a serious accusation, the consequences are so devastating, and the attitude of the accused is so reprehensible, that a limited period of imprisonment will not suffice.
“All three accused are sentenced to life imprisonment. The court has ordered the arrest of those convicted,” he said.
The judge said the 306 claims for compensation have been assessed according to Ukrainian law.
He said compensation for moral damages, including emotional damages, is granted for a total amount exceeding 16 million euros.
Meanwhile, the judge, in acquitting a third Russian national, Oleg Pulatov, said there is no evidence of active or crucial involvement on the part of Pulatov in deploying the Buk TELAR or in the assignment that Dubinskiy gave Kharchenko.
“Pulatov is known not to have been in the vicinity of the launch site at or around the moment that the Buk TELAR fired the missile. Nor are there any indications that he could have changed anything about this. He has therefore been acquitted,” he said.
Earlier, touching on the evidence, the judge said the court has no doubt whatsoever that the MH17 was hit by a Buk missile fired from the farm field.
“This is clear from photographs of a smoke trail in the sky, statements by a protected witness, satellite images, intercepted telephone conversations and transmission mast data, photographs and videos of a Buk TELAR being brought in and removed, and examination of fragments in the remains of a crew member and in the truss and the groove of the aircraft.
“Investigation in the Netherlands and abroad has not revealed any traces of evidence tampering,” he said.
The criminal proceedings against the four men began on March 9, 2020. However, none of them appeared in court, and as such, the court decided that the four defendants be tried in absentia under Dutch law.
They face charges of causing the crash of flight MH17, resulting in the death of all persons on board, punishable pursuant to Article 168 of the Dutch Criminal Code, and for murdering the 298 persons on board, punishable pursuant to Article 289 of the Dutch Criminal Code.
Upon conviction, they faced life imprisonment or a 30 years jail term and without parole or the opportunity to be released early.
It was reported that MH17 was downed by a BUK missile while flying over the conflict-hit eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
All 298 people on board, comprising 43 Malaysians, 193 Dutch nationals and 27 Australians, were killed.
