The District Court of The Hague, which is considering the case of the downing of the airliner MH17, found Ihor Girkin, as well as his subordinate fighters Serhii Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko, guilty of shooting down the plane, but acquitted Oleh Pulatov, European Truth reports citing the judge Hendrik Steinhaus during the announcement of the court’s decision in the court complex.
The court sentenced Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko to life imprisonment and ordered to take them into custody.
The court, in particular, established that Dubinsky and Kharchenko were functionally involved in the supply from Russia of the Buk air defense system for launching the missile, as well as in its evacuation. Before that, the court confirmed the Ukrainian version of the causes of the MH17 disaster, noting, however, that the main target should have been Ukrainian military aircraft.
“Kharchenko reported to Dubinsky about the use of anti-aircraft missiles and then carried out the order to take them out,” the judge said, stressing that the defendants knew that launching the missile would lead to people’s deaths.
The court also believes that the intention to shoot down military rather than civilian aircraft does not reduce the guilt of the accused. “The accused, who are not combatants, did not have the right to attack a military plane as well.”
