MH17: Three found guilty of shooting down Malaysia Airlines jet over Ukraine in 2014

A Dutch court has handed down its verdict on the men accused of shooting down flight MH17 over Ukraine, murdering 38 Australians.

Two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist have been found guilty of murder for the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. They were given “life long” prison sentences.

The three have also been ordered to pay almost $25 million (16m euro) in damage to the families.

The downing of MH17 in July 2014 killed 298 people including 80 children and 38 Australians.

A court in the Netherlands, delivering its verdict on Thursday, stated that a Russian anti aircraft BUK missile launched from the Kremlin backed rebel held Dontesk region of eastern Ukraine shot down the passenger jet.

“It is crystal clear what the consequence of the attack would be and that is downing the aircraft causing the death of all on board,” presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis said.

The wrecked cockpit of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)

Relatives of Australian MH17 victims (from L to R) Meryn O'Brien and Jon O'Brien who lost their son Jack, Matthew Horder who lost his parents Susan and Howard, Paul Guard and his sister Amanda Koopman who lost their parents Jill and Roger speak to the media outside the Schiphol Judicial Complex on November 17, 2022 in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands. Picture: Pierre Crom/Getty Images

The three found guilty

The court found Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko guilty of murder and shooting down an aeroplane.

They were allegedly part of Kremlin-backed forces and had key roles in bringing the BUK missile from a military base in Russia and deploying it to the launch site – even if they did not pull the trigger. Russia has always denied involvement and had tried to shift responsibility onto Ukraine.

Girkin was the military leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Subinsky oversaw the transport of the missile carrier and Kharchenko guarded it.

Russian man Oleg Pulatov was acquitted as he was not in a position to overrule the order to target the plane and did not have an active role in the incident. Mr Pulatov was the only defendant who had legal representation.

The three found guilty were sentenced to “life long” prison sentences. None of the men were in court and they had refused to attend the two-and-a-half-year trial. It’s likely none of the three will serve their time if they remain in Russia and extracting the $25m in damages is also a distant hope.

Netherlands police with images of the four accused. Oleg Pulatov was acquitted with the other tree men found guilty. (Photo by Robin van Lonkhuijsen / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT

All passengers and crew were killed when the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit over separatist-held eastern Ukraine.

While conflict raged below, planes were thought to be safe if they stayed above 32,000 feet. MH17 was at 33,000 feet. It lost contact with air traffic control at 13:20 GMT on July 17.

Several of those on board were health experts heading to a major HIV/AIDS conference being held in Melbourne.

Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis at the verdict in the MH17 trial on November 17, 2022.(Photo by John THYS / AFP)

‘Possibility anyone surviving was zero’

The verdict stated that it was unlikely the plan was to bring down a passenger jet and they may have believed it was a military target. Nonetheless, the actions were criminal.

Prosecutors had demanded life sentences for the suspects on charges of murder and causing an aircraft to crash.

“The court is of the opinion that MH17 was brought down by the firing of a BUK missile from a farm field near Pervomaisk (close to the Russian border and well into occupied areas),” said Judge Steenhuis at the sentencing.

A BUK missile cannot be launched by mistake nor in the heat of the moment. The court concludes that the BUK was fired deliberately and after some consideration.

“The possibility anyone surviving a BUK missile attack is zero. Everyone who launched this missile would have been aware of this,” he added.

A piece of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is pictured in a field near the village of Grabove, in the region of Donetsk on July 20, 2014. (Photo by Bulent KILIC / AFP)

The court said that as none of the three were members of the Russian armed forces they did not have immunity from prosecution.

Bereaved relatives travelled from around the world to hear the ruling after a long fight for justice. The victims came from 10 countries, including 196 Dutch and 43 Malaysians.

Families from several countries visited the Dutch national MH17 monument in the town of Vijfhuizen on the eve of the verdict.

P Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 leaving Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on its doomed flight. Picture: Fred Neeleman / ANP / AFP.

“If they are guilty, the international community should hunt them down,” Evert van Zijtveld, who lost his daughter Frederique, 19, his son Robert-Jan, 18, and his parents-in-law, told AFP.

The crash triggered global outrage and sanctions against Moscow, with Ukraine’s famed sunflower fields littered with bodies and wreckage. Some victims, including children, were still strapped into their seats.

Eight years later, the region where MH17 crashed has become one of the key battlegrounds in Russia’s nearly nine-month-old war in Ukraine.

The trial opened in March 2020 with a sombre reading of the names of all 298 victims.

The court also visited the twisted wreckage of the plane, which has been reconstructed at a Dutch military base.

Three of the suspects are formally being tried in absentia, while Pulatov has had legal representation at the trial and made a video statement in which he said he was not guilty.

Pro-Russian gunmen guard parts of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at the crash site. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Prosecutors say Girkin, 51, a former Russian spy who became the so-called defence minister of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, was in contact with Russia to obtain the missile system.

He has denied the rebels were involved in downing MH17.

Girkin recently criticised the Russian military over its handling of this year’s invasion and reportedly volunteered to fight in Ukraine.

Dubinsky, 60, who has also been tied to Russian intelligence, allegedly served as the separatists’ military intelligence chief and was responsible for giving orders about the missile.

Pulatov, 56, an ex-Russian special forces soldier, and Kharchenko, 50, who allegedly led a separatist unit, were subordinates who played a more direct role in transporting the missile, prosecutors said.

The BUK missile had been identified as coming from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade from Kursk in Russia, the court heard.

Defence lawyers say the trial has been unfair.

They say prosecutors failed to prove a BUK missile brought down the jetliner, and have brought up “alternative scenarios” such as that a Ukrainian jet shot it.

The verdict comes against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has sparked fears of a wider international war.