The three men were found guilty of murder and of having played a role in the destruction of the plane of Malaysia Airlines, on July 17, 2014 above eastern Ukraine.
Le Monde
A Dutch court sentenced Thursday, November 17, three men on Thursday, November 17 and acquitted another for the destruction of the MHH17 flight of Malaysia Airlines over Ukraine in 2014, killing the 298 passengers and crew members.
The Russians Igor Guirkine and Sergei Doubinski and the Ukrainian Leonid Khartchenko were “found guilty” of murder and having played a role in the destruction of an aircraft, the Russian Oleg Poulato was acquitted, said the Judge President Hendrik Steenhuis. They were sentenced to life imprisonment, although it is unlikely that they one day purge their sentence: they are in Russia and in the Ukrainian territories annexed by Moscow, and an extradition is very improbable.
They were accused of the murder of the 298 passengers and crew members killed when the plane connecting Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was affected above the east of Ukraine run by prorussian separatists, by what the Parquet says it is a missile supplied by Moscow. According to the accusation, they were part of the separatist forces supported by the Kremlin and played a key role in the routing of the Buk missile system in Ukraine from a military base in Russia, even if they did not support the Trinkge.
Igor Guirkine, 51, a former Russian spy who became the “Minister of Defense” of the Donetsk separatist People’s Republic, was in contact with Moscow to obtain the missile system, according to the prosecution. He denied any involvement of the separatists in the destruction of the MH17. Recently become critic of the Russian army for his management of the invasion of Ukraine, he would have volunteered to fight there.
Sergei Doubinski, 60, also linked to the Russian intelligence services, would have been the military intelligence chief of the separatists, and would have given orders concerning the missile. Their subordinates, Oleg Poulato, a former Russian special forces soldier, and Leonid Khartchenko, 50, who would have led a separatist unit, played a more direct role in the routing of the missile to the launch site, according to the prosecution.
The trial represents the end of a long quest for justice for those close to the victims, who came from 10 countries, including 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians. The drama had aroused global indignation and led to sanctions against Moscow.
The so-called MH17 trial has in the meantime become a test for efforts to justify the authors of war crimes in Ukraine since 2014. Opened in March 2020 with a sad reading of the names of the victims, he is held in the Netherlands because most of them were Dutch nationals.