Emotional families weep as Flight MH17 trial convicts three men of shooting down plane

The emotional families of the 289 people who died when their Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine wept and hugged each other today after a Dutch judge convicted three men of murdering their relatives.

Two former Russian intelligence officers – Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinsky – as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, who was working for Russia, were found guilty of shooting down the plane with a Russian-made missile.

A third former Russian intelligence officer, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted by the Dutch court due to a lack of evidence.

Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis sentenced the three guilty men to life in prison, saying: ‘Only the most severe punishment is fitting to retaliate for what the suspects have done, which has caused so much suffering to so many victims and so many surviving relatives.’

The families of victims stood weeping and wiping away tears in the courtroom as Steenhuis read the verdict. 

In emotional scenes, relatives were seen hugging each other after stepping outside the courtroom. Ria van der Steen, who lost her father and stepmother in the downing of the plane, clenched her fist after the court’s verdict. 

The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 289 passengers and crew members. The crash scattered wreckage and bodies over farmland and fields of sunflowers.

The mid-air explosion and crash happened amid a conflict between pro-Russian separatist and Ukrainian forces.

Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis ruled that Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko were guilty of the murder of those on the flight – but they are unlikely to ever serve time in prison as they remain fugitives. They are all believed to be in Russia, which will not extradite them.

Ria van der Steen, who lost her father and stepmother in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, clenches her fist after the court’s verdict at Schiphol airport on November 17 

People who lost relatives in the downing of MH17 hug each other after the court found three men guilty of murder

The emotional families of the 289 people who died when their Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine wept and hugged each other today after a Dutch judge convicted three men of murdering their relatives 

Two former Russian intelligence officers – Igor Girkin (top left) and Sergey Dubinskiy (top right) – as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko (bottom right), who was working for Putin, were found guilty of murdering the 289 people onboard the Boeing 777. A third former Russian intelligence officer, Oleg Pulatov (bottom left), was acquitted by the Dutch court

Lawyers attend the judges’ inspection of the reconstruction of the MH17 wreckage, as part of the murder trial ahead of the beginning of a critical stage, in Reijen, Netherlands, in May 2021

Piet Ploeg, chairman of the MH17 foundation, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew in the aviation disaster, said he hoped the verdict could help families move on.

‘I don’t believe in terms of closure – ask relatives who lost their children, you will never find closure for that. But I really hope that this day will give families some space to try to get on with their lives.’

Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said that evidence presented by prosecutors at a trial that lasted more than two years proved that plane was brought down by a Russian-made missile fired by pro-Moscow rebels.

He said Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko could all be held responsible for the transport of the BUK missile from a military base in Russia and deploying it to the launch site. But the men did not pull the trigger – and who did so remains unknown.

This means that the grieving families of those who died – many of whom were children – will continue to seek answers until those who fired the missile are held to account. 

Indeed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that whilst the court’s ruling was an ‘important’ one, those who were responsible for actually firing the missile remain unknown.

‘It is necessary that those who ordered [the missile launch] also end up in the dock because the feeling of impunity leads to new crimes. We have to dispel this illusion. Punishment for all Russian atrocities – both then and now – will be inevitable.’

Peter Neenan, Partner in Stewarts’ Aviation team and lawyer acting on the case, echoed Zelensky’s sentiments and said after the verdict that the judgement marks an ‘important step’ in the fight for justice.

But he said: ‘The finding of guilt today is just one part of that fight for justice and truth. Those who actually fired the missile remain unknown.’

The courtroom was packed with hundreds of relatives of the 298 victims of the aviation disaster. They had travelled from across the world to hear the verdict

The families blinked back tears as Judge Steenhuis highlighted how their lives were changed forever on July 17, 2014 when the flight MH17 was shot down by the Russian-made missile. 

Steenhuis described the torment of family members who had to wait for the remains of their relatives. ‘A piece of bone from a hand. A piece of leg or a foot. In two cases, no parts of a loved one returned.’

The judgment included a 16 million euro damages award to victims that will be paid by the Dutch state if it is not paid by the convicted men.

Piet Ploeg, who lost his brother, his sister-in-law and his nephew in the downing of MH17, spokes person for the relatives of the victims smiles (centre right wearing green tie) before the verdict session of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 trial at the high security court at Schiphol airport, near Amsterdam, Netherlands on Thursday

Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis (left) opened Thursday’s hearing and said the court’s view is that the MH17 was brought down by a Russian-made Buk missile launched from an agricultural field in eastern Ukraine

People inspect the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Hrabove, Russian-controlled Donetsk region of Ukraine in July 2014

Briton John Alder, 63, was one of those who tragically lost their lives aboard MH17

20-year-old Ben Pocock, a former Wellsway School pupil who was studying at Loughborough University, was on board Flight MH17

Glenn Thomas, a WHO’s spokesperson, who died when heading to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne

Pictured: Robert Ayley with his wife Sharlene. Robert died on board flight MH17 which was shot down over the Ukraine as it travelled from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

Ten Britons – including Liam Sweeney, 28, Richard Mayne, 20, Glenn Thomas, 49, John Alder, 63, and 20-year-old Ben Pocock – were killed when the MH17 was shot down by the Russian-made missile. 

Britons Robert Ayley, 28, Andrew Hoare, 59, Stephen Anderson, 44, John Allen, and Cameron Dalziel, 43, were also killed.

Relatives of those killed in the downing of the plane said the ruling showed who was responsible for all the deaths.

‘The truth on the table – that is the most important thing,’ said Anton Kotte, who lost his son, daughter-in-law and his 6-year-old grandson when MH17 was shot down. He said the hearing was a ‘D-Day’ for relatives.

Robbert van Heijningen, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew, called the downing ‘an act of barbarism’ that he could never put behind him, regardless of the verdict.

‘I call it a stone in my heart, and stones… don’t disappear,’ he said.

The judge ruled that Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko did not enjoy any immunity from prosecution as they were not members of the Russian armed services.

But the three men remain fugitives and they are all believed to be in Russia, which will not extradite them.

The court ruled that Girkin, Dubinskiy, and Kharchenko worked together to bring the Buk missile system from a Russian military base into Ukraine and bring it into position for its launch.

And even if the shooting down of MH17 might have amounted to a military miscalculation, Steenhuis said ‘such an error did not change the intent.’

The UK’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement: ‘Today’s guilty verdicts, convicting three individuals of murder in relation to the downing of MH17, are an important step in securing justice for the families of the victims.

‘298 lives, including those of ten British nationals, were tragically lost on 17 July 2014. Thousands more have been devastated in the years since, as family and friends continue to grieve for their loved ones.

‘The downing of MH17 was a shocking violation of international norms which keep our societies safe. It serves as a stark reminder of the human cost of Russia’s actions in Ukraine over many years.

‘My thoughts remain with the families of all those killed in this heinous attack, including people from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, Belgium, Germany, the Philippines, New Zealand and Canada.’

During the trial, prosecutors had said the four suspects had helped arrange and transport a Russian army BUK missile system into Ukraine that was used to shoot down the plane.

Phone call intercepts that formed a key part of the evidence against the men suggested they believed they were targeting a Ukrainian fighter jet.

Girkin, a 51-year-old former colonel in Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, who was found guilty for the downing of the plane, was the most senior defendants. 

At the time of the downing, he was defence minister and commander of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic – the region where the plane was shot down. Girkin reportedly is currently involved in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

His subordinates Sergey Dubinskiy, and Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian who prosecutors say was commander of a pro-Russia rebel combat unit and took orders directly from Dubinskiy, were also found guilty. 

Russian Oleg Pulatov was acquitted for murder due to a lack of evidence. 

A senior Ukrainian official saidt he Dutch court ruling sends a strong signal that ‘every war crime committed by the Russians’ will be investigated and ‘brought to a conclusion

‘It can be said that this is the strongest signal to the whole world, including Russia itself, that every war crime committed by the Russians will be documented, investigated and brought to a conclusion. No matter how much time it takes,’ Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

The Hague District Court, sitting at a high-security courtroom at Schiphol Airport, passed judgement against a backdrop of global geopolitical upheaval caused by Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine in February and the nearly nine-month war it triggered.

Hundreds of family members of people killed travelled to the court to hear the verdict, bringing them back to the airport their loved ones left on the fateful day MH17 was shot down. Outside the court, planes could be heard taking off and landing nearby on a cold, grey day.

Investigators work at a the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), some 80km east of Donetsk, on July 25, 2014

Australian and Dutch investigators examine a piece of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane, near the village of Hrabove, Russian-controlled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on August 1, 2014

Dutch prosecutors say the missile launcher came from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces based in the Russian city of Kursk and was driven back there after MH17 was shot down.

The suspects were not accused of firing the missile but of working together to get it to the field where it was fired. They are accused of bringing down the plane and the murder of all those on board.

Pulatov, who was found not guilty, was the only suspect who was represented by defence lawyers at the trial. They accused prosecutors of ‘tunnel vision’ in basing their case on the findings of an international investigation into the downing while ignoring other possible causes.

Pulatov’s defense team also sought to discredit evidence and argued he didn’t get a fair trial.

In a video recording played in court, Pulatov insisted he was innocent and told judges: ‘What matters to me is that the truth is revealed. It’s important for me that my country is not blamed for this tragedy.’

Moscow denies any involvement or responsibility for MH17’s downing and in 2014 it also denied any presence in Ukraine. In a briefing in Moscow on Thursday, Deputy Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ivan Nechaev told reporters the government would examine the court’s findings.